What is Gothic horror?

Gothic horror is another reference of Gothic fiction; it is a type of literature which has romance and horror within it.

Typically stories which have a Gothic theme to them are set in ruined buildings that are sinister with dark and gloomy settings. Mountains, forests and wintery weather are also very popular settings for gothic stories as they give an uneasy mood to what is happening.

Just like in Dickens Great Expectations Gothic horror elements can also be gloomy, mysterious with some suspense and drama.

Reference
[Online] https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=what+is+gothic+horror%3F&oq=what+is+gothic+horror%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57.6987j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8 last accessed 8/2/2014

[Online] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_gothic_horror_genre?#slide=17 last accessed 8/2/2014

Pinterest

Here is a link to my Pinterest where I pin all kinds of images in different boards which interest me. 

Click here to view my pinterest!

The themes of Great Expectations

The two main themes that I will be concentrating on throughout exploring Great Expectations will be Gothic and Horror. I had personally never thought about the novel in this way, but after being more open to the story line and the themes of the novel I would now definitely agree that it has a hint of gothic and horror within the story. Below are 5 general characteristics which I believe fit with the text so far:

1. The novel is foreshadowing using weather and nature to create a mood for the reader
2. Mystery and suspense, as the novel has a lot of tension to it, when reading it for the first time it is an unpredictable story where you cannot tell what may happen later on in the novel for any of the characters.
3. Suffering is something that I would most definitely say is within the novel; many of the characters are sad and lonely in the book.
4. Along with suffering I believe that depression is also a main characteristic within the book as none of the characters within the novel seem to be truly happy.
5. Fear is also a big part of the novel; many of the characters are suffering in some way this causes them to fear how they live.  

Below are some images that I have found in books that reference and match my feelings and understanding of the novel.

Victorian Dress in Photographs written
by Madeline Ginsburg p.82

This photograph on the right is a lady wearing a day dress, the date of which this photograph was taken is unknown, however I am sure that this was taken during the Victorian Era as I found this photograph in a book called 'Victorian Dress in Photographs'. This dress was made from patterned silk with puffed shoulders. As this is an original Victorian dress from the Victorian Era I thought that it was appropriate to put onto my blog as it reflects the Gothic theme of Great Expectations. The textures in this dress appear to be very strong. The lady wearing the dress in this photograph is very still and looks very elegant, the name of the lady is unknown but I think that this lady was an upper class Victorian woman. 

Early Photographs and Early Photographers a survey in diction form 

written by Oliver Mathews p.138

This specific photograph above is from the book which is shown above was taken by Charles Soulier in 1880; he named this photograph Le Chateau de Chillon. I have chosen to include this photograph into my blog as it reminds me of the opening scene of the first episode of the BBC series of Great Expectations.  The original location of this photograph is unknown but it was how ever taken in the Victorian era in France.

Gothic Dark Glamour written by Valerie 

Steele and Jennifer Park p.22

This photograph on the left is of a Victorian mourning dress in 1880 which was photographed by Irving Solero in courtesy of Evan Michelson. This dress was on show at the Gothic Dark Glamour exhibition at the Fashion Institute museum in New York, 2009. This dress was made from black silk and netting. I thought this was appropriate to include on my blog because it’s an original mourning dress from the Victorian era.

Gothic Dark Glamour written by Valerie Steele and Jennifer Park p.23

This photograph above is of a late Victorian mourning dress in 1895, this was also photographed by Irving Solero while also on display at the Fashion Institute of Technology museum in New York in 2009. The colour of this dress gives a gothic feel as it was only designed and made only using black materials. The gothic feel to this dress fits with the gothic theme of Great Expectations.

Early Photographs and Early Photographers a survey in diction form written by Oliver Mathews p.122

This photograph shown above was taken by James Hedderly in 1870; he named this photograph ‘Old Chelsea Reach’. I thought this photograph was appropriate to add to my blog because this image fits with my vision of the opening scene of Great Expectations. This photograph is very dark and gloomy with only one man standing alone in the image.

Introduction

This semester we will be exploring Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Although I had previously studied this novel at school for my GCSE’s in 2009 I needed to refresh my memory as I couldn’t really remember much of plot or the characters.

Throughout the Christmas break I began re reading Great Expectations but I found it very slow, boring and difficult to understand. I found the spark notes online very useful to help me understand the text more.

Great Expectations was set in the Victorian Era which ran from 1837 – 1901. The novel has themes of suspense, horror, fear and superstition; it is classed as a gothic novel which were very popular during this time. The settings of the book are often in very dark and gloomy places which also reference to the gothic theme of the book. Many of the characters also show gothic qualities throughout the novel.

My favourite character in the novel is Miss Havisham - the bride frozen in time, her powerful character is fascinating to me as during the Victorian era women were meant to be dependent on a male figure. She is an older woman who was jilted on her wedding day, years later still wearing her wedding dress and has a grudge against all men. Although she doesn’t seem like a particularly very nice character in the book as she also raises Estella to become a heart breaker, as a tool of her own revenge against men.

Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham in the
BBC series of Great Expectations.

I have watched the first episode of the three part series of Great Expectations which was shown in 2011 by the BBC that was written by Sarah Phelps and Directed by Brian Kirk. Miss Havisham was played by Gillian Anderson in the series, the way she was portrayed through the eyes of Pip in this version of Great Expectations which created a sense of innocence for her character.  

Anderson’s appearance as Miss Havisham was surprising in the first episode of the series as I thought that the dress should have looked a lot more worn and tattered with a hint of yellow to it as it has been worn for so long. Her skin is looking very dewy in an unhealthy way. She looks like she has been deprived of sleep; the bags under her eyes are striking. A point a lecturer of mine made was that you can see that she has a lot of product on her face which is interesting as I wonder why she has been made up in this way, it looks very unnatural.

Overall I am very excited about this new project for this semester as I am feeling very inspired to all the different elements of the story to connect to the brief, I think that Great Expectations could lead to an exciting final outcome.

Image of Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham