1、 本科毕业论文 （ 20 届） 英语 A Study of Gothic Novels Based on The Castle of Otranto and Frankenstein 外语学院学生毕业论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的毕业论文是本人在导师的认真指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的研究成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不包含其他个人或集体已经发表的学术成果，也不包含为获得浙江万里学院或其它教育机构的学位证书而使用过的材料。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式表明。如本文涉及上述声明及任何知识产权纠纷，本人将承担一切责任。 学生签名： _ 日期： _ A
2、bstract The Gothic novel first appeared in the United Kingdom in the later half of the 18th century. The publishing of Horace Walpole The Castle of Otranto marked the appearance of Gothic novel. The thesis generally introduces the background information of Gothic novel including its origin, definiti
3、on and basic Gothic elements. Further more, it tries to sum up the artistic features and development of Gothic novel through a comparative analysis between Frankenstein and The Castle of Otranto, and at the same analyzes the common features of the two works and the innovation of Frankenstein from Th
4、e Castle of Otranto. As Gothic novel, these two works both have suspenseful plots and horrible description. However, Frankenstein blends the new imagination and narrative pattern into Gothic novel. Although Gothic novel was short-lived of not more than one century from its appearance to disillusionm
5、ent, its historical significance and profound influences on later works should not be ignored. It is hoped that this study can be helpful for English learners to have a better understanding of Gothic novels. Key Words: Gothic novel features development 摘 要 哥特式小说第一次出现在 18世纪晚期的英国。由贺拉斯瓦尔普创作的奥特兰托堡的出版标志着
6、第一部哥特式小说的诞生。本论文大体上介绍了哥特式小说的背景信息，包括它的起源，定义以及基本的哥特元素。此外，通过对奥特兰托堡和弗莱肯斯坦这两部具有代表性的小说进行比对分析 ,从而总结出哥特式小说的艺术特征和发展历程，并分析了两者的共同特征和弗莱肯斯坦的创新之处。作为哥特式小说，这两部作品都设置了充满悬疑的情节和运用了令人惊悚的描写。然而弗莱肯斯坦也将新的想象和叙事方式融入到了哥特式小说之中。虽然哥特式小说 从出现到消逝不到短短一个世纪，其历史性的意义和对后世作品的深远影响不可忽视。作者希望通过本论文的研究，能帮助英语读者对哥特式小说有更进一步的认识和了解。 关键词 :哥特式小说 特征 发展 C
7、ontents 1. Introduction . . .1 2. Definition and Features of Gothic Novel . .2 2.1 Definition of Goth and Gothic Novel . 3 2.2 Features of Gothic Novel . . . .3 3. Introduction and Analysis of Frankenstein and The Castle of Otranto .4 3.1 Introduction to Frankenstein . . 4 3.1.1 Brief Introduction t
8、o Plot . . 4 3.1.2 Analysis of Characters. . . .4 3.1.3 Analysis of Theme . . . 5 3.2 Introduction to The Castle of Otranto . .5 3.2.1 Brief Introduction to Plot . 6 3.2.2 Analysis of Characters . . .6 3.2.3 Analysis of Theme . . . .7 3.3 Comparative Analysis of Frankenstein and The Castle of Otrant
9、o .7 3.3.1 The Common Features of the Two Works . .7 3.3.2 Frankensteins Inheritance and Innovation from The Castle of Otranto . .9 4. Significance and Influence of the Gothic Novel . .10 4.1 Significance of Gothic Novel .10 4.2 Influences of Gothic Novel on Later Works . 11 5. Conclusion . 12 Works
10、 Cited .13 Acknowledgements1 A Study of Gothic Novels Based on The Castle of Otranto and Frankenstein 1 Introduction The western literary critics define Gothic novel as “Dark Romanticism”, because Gothic novel takes a lot of words describing violence and terror in its plot, and its theme reveals the
11、 darkness of society and government. Gothic Novel usually uses castles, monsters or wilderness as its background and describes homicide, vengeful ghosts or paranormal phenomena to create a gloomy atmosphere. Fred Botting explains that “The darker, agonised aspect of Romantic writing has heroes in th
12、e Gothic mould: gloomy, isolated and sovereign, they are wanderers, outcasts and rebels condemned to roam the borders of social worlds, bearers of a dark truth or horrible knowledge.” (1996, p.63) Botting traces its history from its origins in the 18th century to modernist and postmodernist represen
13、tations. He offers a broad overview of the themes, images and effects in Gothic novel. American scholar Mark Edmundson explains that “one of the common functions of the Gothic is to turn anxiety, the vague but insistent fear of what will happen in the future, into suspense.” (1999, p.12) It is this
14、“suspense” that makes people concentrate on the development of plot and lose themselves in the frightening scenes. Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto is the first Gothic novel, which contains Gothic factors that refute realism and rationalism in British literary culture. Markman Ellis explains th
15、at The Castle of Otranto “focuses on the family and familial as the place where political issues and tensions may be articulated, understood and resolved”. (2000, p.34) 2 Frankenstein is no doubt a classical work as a Gothic novel written by Mary Shelly in 1818. Shelleys own life and the strange cir
16、cumstances led her to write this novel. Despite the frightening appearance, the monster in the novel was not initially evil. He started his revenge after he was betrayed by his creator and finally both the monster and his creator went to their mutual destruction. Frankenstein is regarded as a novel
17、of surprising psychological depths as well as a masterpiece of horror. However, “film versions have bypassed the novels rich complexities and given us only a caricature of its plot: a madman who builds a monster.” (Branagh, Lady Darabont, p.1) This thesis will generally consist of five parts. The be
18、ginning part is the introduction. The second part will mainly focus on the definition and features of Gothic novel. The third part intends to give an introduction to The Castle of Otranto and Frankenstein, as well as comparative analysis of two works. The fourth part will mainly about the significan
19、ce of Gothic novels appearance and its influence on later works. The last part will draw a natural conclusion, in which a general review of the above analysis will be made and suggestions on further research efforts will be also put forward. So the author is trying to make a detailed analysis of Got
20、hic novels through The Castle of Otranto and Frankenstein and sum up the development and artistic features of Gothic novel. It is hoped that this study can be helpful for English learners to have a better understanding of Gothic novels. 2 Definition and Features of Gothic Novel 2.1 Definition of Got
21、h and Gothic Novel “Goth” is the Gothic national tribal name of Dayton， and later was used to refer to a kind of medieval architectural style. This architectural style was frequently applied in churches and castles, featuring massive walls and gloomy 3 internal environment. Therefore, “Goth” gradual
22、ly became the symbol of darkness and terror. The “Gothic Novel” discussed in this thesis is a genre of fiction which often describes gloomy environment and horrible plots. As one branch of the English literature, Gothic Novel originated from Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto, which was acknowled
23、ged to be the first gothic novel in history. Zhang Aimin (2000) explains that Gothic Novels birth was deeply influenced by Sentimentalism Novel and Graveyard Poetry at that time. In the 1790s, Gothic novels gradually divided into two branches: Horrible Gothic Novels and Sentimental Gothic Novels. Ho
24、rrible Gothic Novels adopted much morbid evil in plots to make novels more mysterious and horrible. In opposite, Sentimental Gothic Novels discarded excessive mysterious elements and horrible atmosphere to make their plots more logical. David Punter and Glennis Byron (2004) explains that the period
25、of classic Gothic novel came to an end with the publication of Mary Shellys Frankenstein in 1818 or Charles Robert Maturins Melmoth The Wanderer in 1820. However, English scholar Franz Potter (2005) makes a conclusion that Gothic novel gradually quit the stage of history from 1800 to 1835. Gothic No
26、vel as a process in history of literature has lost its social function and purpose after the year of 1834.Gothic novel has important influences on todays horror fictions and mystery novels. However, as a form of literature, it has been no longer in existence. 2.2 Features of Gothic Novels In peoples
27、 impression, Gothic novels are always making them feel both frightening and curious. Therefore, in order to achieve this effect, Gothic Novel contains four basic features: acts of terror, magic, mystery and suspense. The “acts of terror” and “magic” in Gothic novel are used to frighten readers and a
28、rouse readers curiosity so as to lead them to read on. “Mystery” and “suspense” are also indispensable to a successful Gothic novel. 4 As to the background of Gothic novels, writers would usually use castles, penetraliums or wilderness as the place where story happens. As to the characters in the no
29、vel, monsters, murderers or avengers frequently appear. And for the plots of stories, writers would often add some complicated life experiences to the characters and set some suspense or paranormal phenomena. Finally, writers would also adopt death, revenge and the degeneration of human nature as th
30、eir themes to create a gloomy atmosphere. 3 Introduction and Analysis of Frankenstein and The Castle of Otranto 3.1 Introduction to Frankenstein 3.1.1 Brief Introduction to Plot Through several years research of natural philosophy and chemistry, Victor Frankenstein creates a new creature which looks
31、 very ugly and horrible. Victor finds that the monster disappeared the second day and he feels so fearful and regretful to create this monster that he falls into illness. In order to revenge his creator, in the next series of events, the monster murders victors youngest brother, friend and even kill
32、s Victors wife on his wedding day. Victors father also passes away bitterly after suffering excessive sadness. In desperation, Victor decides to find and destroy this hateful monster. Finally, on the way of chasing the monster, victor dies because of illness and the monster also departs to die after
33、 knowing his creators death. 3.1.2 Analysis of Characters Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist of this story. He grows up in Geneva and has read a lot of works about the ancient alchemy. At the university in Ingolstadt, he learns about modern science which makes him fascinated with the “secret of
34、life” and brings a monster to life. As mentioned before, “acts of terror” 5 and “mystery” are both the basic features of Gothic novel. And Victors act of creating the hideous monster exactly corresponds with the common features of Gothic novel, being horrible and mysterious. The monster Victor has c
35、reated makes him gradually become a mad and guilt-ridden man from an ambitious young scientist. Whats more, after the monster kills his brother, friend and wife, Victor also becomes an avenger. As a Gothic novel, Frankenstein also discloses the changes and nasty aspects of humanity. Although Victor
36、feels remorseful and guilty for creating this monster, he never admits to anyone what horrible thing he has done. Therefore, Victor is a talented scientist, but not a conscientious man. For the monster created by Victor Frankenstein, just like the other monsters described in many Gothic novels, it i
37、s extremely ugly and enormously strong. However, this monster is not initially evil in fact. He has ever helped some poor people and saved a drowning girl, but because of his ugly appearance, he is beated and hated by people. It is those miserable experiences that make him feel lonely and upset, and
38、 eventually he becomes a typical character of gothic novel a vengeful monster. Thus this novel also criticizes that people tend to judge things by appearance, but few of them would explore the nature of things. 3.1.3 Analysis of Theme Monstrosity is obviously an important theme of this novel. With u
39、gly appearance and his brutal revenge, the monster is no doubt a monstrosity in this novel. However, the initial creator of this monster is a normal human being. It is Victors ambition, secrecy and selfishness that give the life to the monster. Therefore, the nasty aspects of humanity inside are the true “monster” in peoples mind.
