How Are These Two Genres Similar and Where Do They Differ
Many people view Gothic writing as a synonym for Dark Romanticism. It’s true that there’s some overlap, but there are also key differences. As we consider where these two literary genres intersect and where they differ, we’ll also look at how to write in the styles of Gothic versus Dark Romanticism.
Romanticism
Dark Romanticism is an off-shoot of Romanticism, which began in the late eighteenth-century as a response to the Enlightenment and, subsequently, to the Industrial Revolution. Those who adhered to the Romantic movement were those who distrust science. Not because science is necessarily wrong, but because it tends to reduce the world to one plane – that which can be known empirically – while rejecting the spiritual world and that of the inner man.
Hence it’s not surprising that Romantics value the world of former eras, particularly the Medieval one, in which the spiritual world played a central role. However, those former eras, such as the classical world of the Greeks, that had a predominant focus on reason, rules and logic, are by definition in sharp contrast with Romanticism.
Romantics also love nature, not from a scientific approach, but from an experiential one, along with folk art and music; art without constructs or requirements. The heart of this movement was/ is the individual and the ideal. The individual must be free to experience, to feel, to create, to imagine. And even more, to know the wonder of a spiritual world that extends beyond the limits of man’s reason.
Dark Romanticism
Two off-shoots to Romanticism are Transcendentalism and Dark Romanticism. We won’t emphasize the former here today, but suffice it to say that Transcendentalism is rooted in the idea that man can continue to perfect himself, to create something of an ideal world for himself and the rest of humanity. Assuming, of course, that enough other people participate in the endeavor. You may recall shades of this within Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The March family is comprised of Transcendentalists.
In contrast, Dark Romanticism is the subset of Romanticism that holds that man is fallible, prone to evil, self-destructive, and unable to perfect himself. Some say that this perspective naturally devolves into an immoral one – a belief that man can only be evil. However, I would add that this is only true in his natural state. Dark Romanticism leaves room for the notion of a higher spiritual power, God, who could raise man from his natural darkness to a place of goodness.
The difference between Dark Romanticism and Transcendentalism isn’t where man ends, it’s where he begins; where his natural state would be. Whereas Transcendentalism teaches that man is inherently good and can be perfect through his own efforts, Dark Romanticism says that man is inherently evil and can never [apart from the work of an outside entity] be perfect.
Naturally, Dark Romantics often emphasize this through their work. Thus, their art and literature tends to be dark, melancholy, and focused on man’s inescapably evil nature. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is an excellent example of a work of Dark Romanticism.
Writers in this category tend to include Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Gothic Writing vs. Dark Romanticism
As you can probably see already, there are a number of similarities between the Gothic and Dark Romantic genres.
Irrational Themes
Both are a response to the Enlightenment, holding that such a rigid focus on reason and empirical evidence ignores an entire unseen spiritual world. In opposing this scientific focus, both genres set out to demonstrate this intangible world.
Tropes
Both Gothic and Dark Romantic wors employ tropes that make irrational (contra-reason) themes tangible for readers. [For more information on this see this article.] These tropes tend to be dark ones such as fog, dark and stormy weather, madness, vampires, ghosts, and isolation since darkness parallels the seemingly imperceptible and impenetrable nature of irrational themes.
The Emotions
Both genres emphasize man’s emotional and experiential response to the world around him. Generally both of these will be negative, although Gothic needn’t always be. The heart of the matter is that man should be free to explore his world through his senses and his imagination. His emotional response is a tangible means of understanding what he truly believes about his surroundings, and though those beliefs may be false, his emotions are a valuable gauge to understand his inner state.
History
Since Romantics in general dislike science, the Industrial Revolution and a world focused on reason, most writing within Dark Romanticism tends to be that which idealizes and reverts to a former time. This is often the case for Gothic writing as well. It would be difficult to explore the intangible spiritual or psychological world in the modern era with its emphasis on empirical data.
That’s not to say that this is unheard of or impossible. For example, notice that some more contemporary Gothic works such as The Shining by Stephen King, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, or We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson take place in a fairly contemporary world. However, when this is the case, the characters are usually isolated from the modern world so that its influences don’t cloud the focus on the irrational themes.
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At face value, these two seem to be identical. The Gothic and Dark Romantic genres explore the same types of themes, using the same tropes, with an emphasis on darker moods, emotive writing and historical settings. However, there are at least two possible differences.
The Evil of Man
First, whereas Man’s fallen, depraved state is an inherent, if not central component in Dark Romanticism, it may or may not be the thematic purpose of a Gothic novel.
For example, some Gothic novels feature the evils of man as the central purpose such as in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and in The Picture of Dorian Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
However, some present evil as a side issue reserved for the antagonist or some select group such as the Doyle family in Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia or the village/ community in We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.
Others may have an evil character but man’s depraved nature is not a central issue such as in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier or The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
Spiritual Focus…or Not
Second, you may have noticed that Dark Romanticism is by definition focused on spiritual themes. These always fall under the irrational, meaning those things that cannot be known through reason or empirically through the five senses.
True Gothic writing always features irrational themes as well. However, there are other types of irrational themes than merely spiritual ones. These can include psychological themes such as the connectedness of man (seen through a trope of telepathy in Stephen King’s The Institute) or the way that we can overcome the fear of aging and death (as in Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury).
Thus, Gothic writing contains a broader set of irrational themes than simply spiritual ones.
Conclusion
Dark Romanticism is essentially a subcategory of Gothic writing. Both are part of the Romanticism Movement. Both set out to explore irrational themes, generally from a darker, more melancholy approach than in other genres, typically using historical settings with a de-emphasis on technology or industry. The two genres also rely heavily on man’s perception of the world through his imagination and his emotions, in addition to his mental faculties.
However, Dark Romanticism’s narrower, spiritual focus and emphasis on man’s evil nature is only sometimes employed in the Gothic genre.
Both are wonderful types of literature and explore important, often-overlooked facets of our world. Which you choose to read or write will depend on your interest in works that highlight the dark spiritual side of man’s nature.
Let me know what Gothic or Dark Romantic writers you love! And if you write in either genre, let me know about it!
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