Gothic Literature

An insight into gothic literature through a review of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Christabel" by Samuel Coleridge.

1,359 words () | 0 sources | 2003 Australia

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how gothic texts use sensationalism, horror and prurient excitements to promote the work. It discusses how the poems of ?Christabel? and ?The Rime of the Ancient Mariner? by Samuel Coleridge go further and deeper than just to sensationalise, horrify or sexually excite the reader. It also debates whether gothic texts fall too readily into mere sensationalism, into unmeaning horror and prurient excitements and whether they should be kept away from the acquaintance of young minds.

From the Paper:

"Coleridge does use sensational language and horror to get the more profound meaning of the story of the mariner. This meaning is that people cannot reason and justify every event or experience in their life, however desperately they try. Throughout the whole text, the mariner, the sailors, the persona as well as Coleridge himself with the gloss, try to justify everything that happens and give a precise reason for every occurrence. For example, they justify the arrival of Death and Life-in-Death by saying that it is their punishment for killing the albatross. Coleridge uses horror and sensationalism through the poem, with purposeful effect. They are not unmeaning and pointless."