Summary
Upon reading several Gothic texts this semester, and writing an essay analyzing gothic metaphors I was able to recognize many specifics from this text such as themes, symbols, and other elements. The few themes that I see often are power, isolation and misogyny. The abuse of power is seen in the Castle of Otranto, when Manfred attempts to do everything in his power to be with a younger woman, and have a child with her. A repeated pattern that I see throughout this type of text is that the women don’t have much exposure to the outside world. These women are very secluded and often don’t have many people to speak too. For example, in the Castle of Otranto, being in a castle makes it impossible to have easy access to the outside world. Also in Carmilla, Laura experiences a very lonely childhood, and the times that she did socialize with people she was overly excited, due to not being used to the communication with outsiders. An element that I I see in these texts is romance. In Carmilla, we see a connection between Carmilla and Laura. And in the the Castle of Otranto, we see Conrad and Isabella. I have also noticed that these gothic texts have lots of actions going on, and much mystery. I am unable to predict what’s to come, because of all the surprising events.
Hi,
Great analysis. I agree that these text shows how women do not have power and exposure to the outside world which put them at a disadvantage and do not give the opportunity for them to pursue in their own happiness, kind of like how Isabella marrying Theodore because they both lost something and being together because of sadness.
Insightful observation about how the women in the stories so far are isolated from the outside world! This means that they are particularly vulnerable to the powerful figures that take advantage of them.