Something that many people will cite when describing Gothic writing is the prevalence of exaggerated emotions. Some people even go so far as to assume that the definition of Gothic writing is simply hysteria mixed with a dark ambience and perhaps some supernatural elements. Jane Austen was guilty of this. If you’ve read much of my blog, or watched my videos, you know that this is something that annoys me greatly. Gothic writing is so much more than these superficial components.
But that’s not to say that Gothic writing doesn’t often feature intense emotional responses. Why is that?
That’s what we’re talking about today.
Think about emotions for a second. Until you see someone’s emotional response, how much do you understand about what’s going on in their life? In their mind? Their heart? Not much. You might pick up some clues from what they say or do, but without that emotional element, it’s a lot harder to read them.
Emotions reveal those things that are often hidden inside of a person.
They take what’s unseen and they make it manifest. They take the simmering rage, or the uncontrollable passion, or the fathomless despair and they present them to the world. Otherwise, we might not understand the full extent of those emotions.
If you’re thinking about your reading repertoire, you’ve likely noted that hyperbolic emotions aren’t present in much of literature. They make an appearance in a heightened situation – a domestic dispute, a shattering loss, an exhilarating win – but otherwise, infrequently. Why? Because in reality, people don’t show the full extent of their emotions most of the time. They lie dormant, concealed behind subtext and those quotidien activities that make up the bulk of the human experience.
That brings us back to the Gothic and why, in contrast, they make such a strong showing in this genre. I can think of at least two very strong reasons for the use of intense emotions in Gothic writing. Both of them are tied to the nature of Gothic themes.
Making the Unseen Tangible
If you recall an article that I wrote a while back – How Gothic Writing Makes the B-Plot Tangible – I talked about ways in which Gothic tropes take the underlying thematic story and make it tangible. For instance, in Gothic writing, ghosts are never just a ghost. They’re an unresolved part of the protagonist’s past, or a part of herself that she’s repressed or refuses to face, or a reminder of someone she wronged, or…
The stormy weather is a symbol of the brewing tension in the household, or the dark mental state of the character(s), or the undercurrent of evil intentions within the antagonist, or…you get the point. The tropes mean something.
They take what is unseen and make it accessible.
The same is true of the preponderance of emotions in Gothic writing. Of course, with emotions, they’re less likely to be symbolic rather than simply an expression of the character’s true state. But they, like the gothic tropes, are making the unseen manifest.
This was the case in The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. One of the most unseen themes we could possibly explore is the existence of evil entities – the sort that can takeover a human and control her, rendering her helpless. But that’s what Blatty did. And the emotions in the book and movie parallel this exploration. They give voice to the horror of what’s happening within.
Exaggerating an Irrational Theme
Other times, writers use the excessive emotions to exaggerate that Gothic (aka: irrational) theme. When dealing with themes that can’t be explained through ordinary, empirical means, emotions can come in particularly handy
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a wonderful example of this. When I think about excessive emotions in Gothic writing, Catherine Earnshaw is the first character who comes to mind. And Heathcliff is generally the second. The two of them are a study in excesses.
We’ll get into this in a book review in the near future, but suffice it to say that yes, this book is a love story… but not the one that Hollywood portrays. The key is to watch Nellie’s character – what she says and does – for the writer’s perspective and the book’s theme.
The story deals with a relationship that’s taken to excesses, to the point of idolatry. Heathcliff loves Catherine so much that he allows it to take over him and destroy him. He becomes a monster in the midst of his obsession with her. He refuses to live without her. And she possesses a histrionic character that sees all things in an unhealthy light. She’s vicious, vindictive, greedy and possessive. She must have all of Heathcliff’s attention. But she also must have money and esteem from marrying Edgar Linton.
Their excessive emotional states from start to finish parallel the theme that Brontë is exploring: about love taken to an unhealthy point. About two youths and then adults who are so excessive that they destroy one another and almost everyone else around them.
Conclusion
These intense emotions work hand-in-hand with Gothic themes, themes that are often particularly intangible. They make them seen and also exaggerate them to make the writer’s point easier for readers to grasp.
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