In its early stages, the Gothic novel serves as a testing ground for the exploration of human fears, desires, and the limits of reason, often staging a conflict between the conscious, rational self and the dark, hidden forces of the unconscious. This is expressed in the form of repressed desires leading to transgression, a sense of the sublime and the uncanny, or simply supernatural manifestations. In my thesis I focus on the analysis of the circumstances – internal and external – that lead the Gothic villain/hero, specifically the archetypal figure of the Catholic monk, into the monastic temptation. In doing so, I rely mainly on the terminology and explanations as developed by Georges Bataille in his theory. I discuss Ann
Radcliffe's The Italian (1797), Matthew Lewis's The Monk (1796) and E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Devil's Elixirs (1815–1816). In my analysis of Radcliffe, I cannot avoid making a distinction between the female and the male gothic novel based on the ideological assumptions of feminist critique. In considering Hoffmann's work, for which the psychological dimensions of the protagonist's inner struggle, with their physical manifestations, are essential, I also have to resort to some psychoanalytical notions, as developed by Freud in his theory. The bearer of erotic desire becomes the protagonist's double. The main aim of the thesis is to show that the violence in the Gothic novel is based on erotic desire, which has its origin in a fundamental fascination with death.
|
