Gothic literary works are characterized as such by their ability to represent
and evoke terror. The form this representation takes is varied; often terror
originates in the atmospheric effects of settings, in the appearance of mysterious,
supposedly supernatural phenomena, and, perhaps most significantly, in the
behavior of villainous characters. Shakespearean tragedy participates in just such
an exploration of the origins and effects of terror. This thesis will examine three
aspects of the Shakespearean Gothic in three of his most frightening and
disturbing tragedies: Macbeth, King Lear and Titus Andronicus. All three of
these texts represent terror in ways that are significant not only for genre studies
but for historicist cultural studies as well. Shakespeare's particular vision of the
terrible tends to represent unruly women and ethnic minorities as demonized
others who threaten normalized social and moral order, and also evokes a
religious dread--a fear of the cruelty or, more radically, the nonexistence of
God--that would have proved particularly disturbing for Early Modem Christian
culture. This reading of Shakespeare demonstrates both the influence of his
vision on later writers and the trans-historic applicability of the Gothic aesthetic. / Graduation date: 2004
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/30850 |
| Date | 11 November 2003 |
| Creators | Appel, Ian S. |
| Contributors | Barbour, Richmond |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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