Otherness in Gothic Fiction: Walpole and Lewis Explored

Introduction: Three Dimensions of Otherness in Gothic Fiction

The construct of otherness is represented in Gothic fiction in three primary ways. First, an underlying emphasis on the supernatural provides a strong platform for presenting a sense of the other to readers. Second, women are portrayed in a manner that characterizes them as fundamentally different from men. Third, the behavior of the characters and the situations in which they find themselves are profoundly different from the everyday experiences of readers, thereby creating a separation between fiction and real life that comfortably maintains the characters in a kind of otherland.

The Otherness of the Supernatural

With his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole is said to have invented the Gothic novel genre — a classification that relies heavily on the representation of the supernatural. In the minds of contemporary readers, supernatural beings are closely associated with elements of physical and psychological terror. The media today has produced a broad assortment of ghost stories, haunted house television shows, and mystery theatre. The Gothic novel, in its original form and in the contemporary form of popular vampire books and movies, depends on a juxtaposition — pleasant or otherwise — of terror and romance.

The old romance novels, with their emphasis on magic, fantasy, and the supernatural, were simply too unbelievable. In the 18th century, the new form of romance novel was intended as a realistic depiction of people, situations, and events as they existed in real life. Walpole believed he was creating a new genre that combined old and new approaches to writing romantic fiction. He attempted to balance his reliance on fantastical situations heavily overlaid with the supernatural — such as portraits that walk about and helmets that fall from the sky — by placing characters he intended to be seen as ordinary into these scenarios. The conceit of putting real people in mysterious situations is a staple of contemporary fiction. Walpole may have adopted this approach to legitimize the story, particularly since romantic fiction was viewed during his time as a debased form. His protagonists were created with the idea of making them more accessible to the reader — they were wholly recognizable despite their proclivity for behaving melodramatically.

With a normalized set of characters in The Castle of Otranto, Walpole was free to introduce elaborate set-pieces that would ultimately become classic examples of Gothic fiction. The seemingly ordinary characters encountered all manner of mysterious happenings and strange sounds — the creak of a door opening by itself, noises leading to mysterious passages — and the ever-present vulnerable maiden fleeing some villainous and often licentiously malevolent male figure. For instance, the story begins when Conrad is killed by an enormous helmet that falls on him and crushes him. This is not perceived as an accident but is instead considered an ominous portent — a harbinger of many bad things to come for the family residing in the Castle of Otranto.

In Matthew Gregory Lewis's Gothic novel The Monk, a variety of supernatural apparitions reveal themselves; however, only one appears to be benevolent — Elvira's ghost. Antonia's mother's ghost visits her daughter to warn of her impending death, saying, "Yet three days, and we shall meet again!" This pivotal moment in the plot is the catalyst for a chain of events that does culminate in the death of Antonia, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Elvira's ghost.

A frame story in The Monk about the triangle between Raymond, Agnes, and the Baroness is transformed when it turns out that the disguise Agnes assumes — the bleeding nun — actually is the bleeding nun, an ancestor who must be properly buried by Raymond to release her from her hauntings. Agnes, meanwhile, has retired to the convent, where she assumes yet another disguise as a gardener. She exhibits as much trickery as a witch, changing forms as it suits her. Time and again, Raymond is easily deceived by women, but he finally prevails — in a manner that men tend to consider an indicator of finality and domination — and overcomes Agnes, an act that brings about her complete rejection of him.

In The Monk, Matilda calls on her supernatural powers and performs a ritual in the cemetery that rids her body of the poison she acquired while saving Ambrosio. From Ambrosio's point of view, the ground shakes and flashes of light appear, yet he seems to attribute little significance to these signs — which proves to be a major oversight, as he quickly develops a wandering eye, leaving Matilda to question her sacrifices.

Conclusion: Gothic Otherness and Reader Identification

The success of Gothic fiction lies fundamentally in the ability of its authors to create a sense of otherness that establishes the action in a fantastical world, in much the same way that a contemporary audience enjoys the Pirates of the Caribbean films. If there is a moral to the story in those films, it takes a back seat to the spectacle and the fantastical narrative. Just as contemporary audiences find Captain Jack Sparrow likeable, they are only able to relate to him on a very limited basis — the audience wants him to prevail in the end, quite regardless of whether he deserves to. A member of the filmgoing public can only identify with pirates to a limited degree.