The narrator of āAt the mountains of madnessā describes the large city that the explorers find at over the foothills with an awe inspired voice of amazement and fascination. He describes the city by saying ā for above all my bewilderment and sense of menace there burned a dominant curiosity to fathom more of this age-old secretāto know what sort of beings had built and lived in this incalculably gigantic place, and what relation to the general world of its time or of other times so unique a concentration of life could have hadā . The narrator experiences a sense of awe from being in a seemingly endlessly large space and wonders just how life was like long ago when these creatures used to live there. The narrator has just experienced the sublime in the way he talks about the city that is very similar to how we look at the cathedral found in the Castle of Otranto. When we think about the churches founded in the Gothic times, we try to imagine being inside the church. The size of us compared to the size of the church creates a dynamic that creates an awe inspiring feeling of being in such a gigantic space. The narrator looks back at a time in history when some sort of beings lived in such a vastly humongous civilization in the same we as we look back to Gothic times to understand how Manfred and all the other characters were living in such a large space as well.Ā
I agree that this connects to Ontranto and the Cathedral in the sense of where they are exploring is huge and while they think they may know what they will find, they in fact do not. Which can also relate to Manfred who believes he will be finding Isabella in the cathedral when it is actually his daughter which seals her fate of death by his hands.
i agree how there are similarities between castle of otranto and at the mountains of madness. Both stories involve large spaces with small people occupying and exploring them. Although they are both very different in which one is about ancient antarctic monsters and the other being about a desperate ruler, they are both similar in the way that they play with the sublime and fantastic in the spaces that the stories take place.
I like your connection to The Castle of Otranto. I think “At the Mountains of Madness” is similar to “Dracula” and “Usher” in the same way. Both texts have individuals in awe due to their environment. Sometimes they’re so caught up in that awe, they don’t realize their lives may be in danger.
-Ayshe
I agree that the story of mountains of madness is similar to castle of otoranto. They do have their own ways of having terror and the uncanny, also their settings. Overall the did have secrets which were later showed in the story.
I agree with your comparison of Castle of Otranto and At the Mountain of madness, they do have a lot of similar traits such as the sublime. The description of the ice bergs is similar to that of the castle