Summary:
In the Gothic genre, transgression can not only be a stimulus, but serves as an outcome to the story too. This is particularly true in Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" whereby the stories end on a highly transgressive note - a girl eating up her grandmother and inheriting all her wealth, a girl turning into a tiger, a girl strangling the Erl-king.
Widely defined, the idea of provoking unease refers to the ability to cause worry or anxiety. Such an ability is an archetypal feature of the Gothic tradition. Unease, while not as potent or as definite as horror or terror, is typically considered to be the build-up to the two, and is essential in guiding our emotions towards the climax of a story. With reference to Bram Stoker's "Dracula", Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre", this essay shall explore the ways in which the Gothic provokes unease and the effects which this gives rise to.
One of the ways in which the Gothic provokes unease would be the exploration or presentation of transgressions which features in most, if not all, of its writings. Transgression refers to the blurring or obliteration of boundaries by acts, deeds or thoughts which are socially or morally wrong. Simply put, to transgress means to do wrong. We can see how acts of transgression are featured in most Gothic novels. In Stoker's 'Dracula', Lucy's petulant exclamation to Mina -"Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her.."" represents a transgression in the sense that it goes against society's expectations of a chaste Victorian woman, who was not supposed to have the sexual desires and promiscuous tendencies that the given quote seems to suggest. Meanwhile, in Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', Jane's highly sexually-suggestive dream of being "tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea, where billows of trouble rolled under surges of joy" hints at a double transgression, because not only is she harbouring sexual desires which were taboo in a Victorian society, but it is towards her master and a man of a much higher social standing that this sexual desire is directed. The transgression in Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber' comes in the form of a young girl marrying a much older man, not for love, but for his money. These are all socially or morally wrong acts, and provokes unease in the reader because the reader, being part of society, has been brought up to abide by social and moral laws, and been taught that to break these laws would have severe ramifications. Therefore, unease is provoked as the reader, having read of these acts of transgression, would now be uneasily expecting some sort of repercussion or punishment. And true enough, such punishments do occur. Lucy is left vulnerable to Count Dracula because of her sexual tendencies, and this leads to her death and eventual transformation into a vampire. Jane, after indulging herself in the happiness of Mr Rochester's emotions for her, is forced to leave him after an emotionally charged situation in which she finds out that he has a living wife, Bertha Mason. The young girl in 'The Bloody Chamber' finds herself prey to the Marquis who has murdered his previous wives. Thus, the unease created by transgression leads to heightened suspense and expectation that is satisfied and stoked when the transgressor in question faces his or her punishment.
In the Gothic genre, transgression can not only be a stimulus, but serves as an outcome to the story too. This is particularly true in Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" whereby the stories end on a highly transgressive note - a girl eating up her grandmother and inheriting all her wealth, a girl turning into a tiger, a girl strangling the Erl-king. Such endings also provoke unease in the reader as they are a-typical endings without a proper morally and socially right conclusion. Readers are left wondering what happens long after the story draws to an end, because they are expecting a repercussion that has not occurred. Thus, readers are left both uneasy and unsatisfied.
The Gothic is traditionally a writing of excess. This excess may come in several different forms. It could be in the author's detailed descriptions of macabre places of gloom and terror. For example, in Stoker's 'Dracula', there is an excess of details regarding Jonathan's journey to the Count's castle. The overwhelming dose of details -the wild howling of wolves, mysterious flickering blue flame, the dark and ruined castle, superstitions reminiscent of Halloween, the adoption of a religious symbol, the crucifix, the mysterious carriage driver - all serves to create a pervading sense of unease despite nothing explicitly evil or horrifying actually happening. Jonathan himself describes his ascent to the castle as "uncanny", foreshadowing the psychological horror of the novel. Thus, the unease created by the excess of details prepares the reader of the unfolding of dark events at the Count's castle, and for the Count himself. The unease makes readers realize something bad is going to happen, and they are held in anticipation for the realization of that expectation. The excess of the Gothic can also manifest itself into strong, volatile and intense emotions that are extremely potent and potentially violent. Such excess of emotion, while allowing readers to gauge their strength and level of intensity, also provokes unease as it goes against the moderation advocated by normal mainstream society. Moreover, such intense emotions have raw strength that can potentially turn destructive or violent, and thus the excess here prepares readers for such a change of explosion. Mr Rochester's emotions for Jane in Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' are excessive and intense to the extent that even Jane is unsettled - "I really became uneasy at the strain he had adopted." Readers, upon reading about Mr Rochester's excess of emotions as well as Jane's less-than-happy reaction to it, will find themselves being uneasy as such intense emotions cannot be prolonged indefinitely without some sort of violent climax or ending, while Jane's reaction foreshadows a grim future revelation. Thus, the excess in the writing provokes unease in readers and leads to them awaiting some future manifestation of grim events.
In some instances, particularly in contemporary Gothic, the author engages in clinical, economic description as opposed to excessive details. Such techniques also serve to provoke unease as it contrasts directly with the fantastical transgression or wrongdoing which it is describing, and makes readers question the moral integrity of the writing. Angela Carter exercises this technique in 'The Werewolf', whereby she narrates the story of how a girl murders in her grandmother and inherits her riches with a detached and clinical style that omits the disgust and horror that readers would expect as a reaction to such an act. This intentional clinical narrative serves the same effect that excess in writing has - that of unsettling readers. This time, though, the unease provoked is due to the divergence between the reaction the readers had been expecting and the reaction the author writes about.
Most conventional Gothic stories feature both a protagonist and a villain. Although at first sight there would seem to be a clear distinction between the two, there is usually some ambivalence in both of these characters that prevents readers from clearly labeling either as 'good' or 'evil'. Such inability to clearly distinct between the two camps of good and evil provokes unease within the reader. The polarizations so distinctive of the Gothic are not as absolute as they seems. In fact, things which appear to be the opposite could turn out to be frighteningly, uncannily similar. For example, in Stoker's 'Dracula', Lucy, the innocent-looking young girl who is the epitome of the virtuous Victorian female, secretly dreams of being allowed to have three husbands, just as Dracula apparently has three wives, and she grows more and more like him as the book progresses. This phenomenon also occurs several times in Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber'. The story of the young innocent girl handed over to The Beast in 'The Tiger's Blood' at first evokes sympathy in readers for the grim horror that awaits her in the form of the unveiling of The Beast. Ultimately though, she turns into a Tiger, just like him. The apparently innocent girl in "The Company of Wolves" turns out to have the same sexual appetites and bestial-like tendencies of the wolf. The initial polarization in most Gothic stories turn out to be not as distinctive or separate as they may have appeared to be, and unease is provoked in readers as it leads them to question the very nature of two supposedly diametrically-opposite camps, that of good and evil, which now seems to have more in common than they should have. Unease is provoked because readers are uncomfortable in accepting that there could be so much potential for corruption in something that appeared wholly good, or that something evil had part which were humanly good. This scares reader as it brings up the question of the duality of human nature. With such blurring of roles, readers start to question their own identities, their ideas of good and evil, and the relationships that exist between both. In this way, unease is created.
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