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How setting and character are connected in Gothic literature
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”
- Robert Kiely

Setting relates mostly to the atmosphere, story setting, physical setting, and societies within
which the protagonists live
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Setting tends to parallel mindsets, even give birth to them
...
The
,I
different historical periods within which those texts were written will also be taken into account
since they have a considerable influence on the nature of the stories being told, and distinguish
them from each other through their different takes on the Gothic genre
...
Instead, it will branch out to external factors within said texts to determine how
the latter affect the progression of the story and the effects they have on the characters, mainly
protagonists
...
​he examination of setting will be linked to the various sub-themes it
T
​
gives rise to, such as isolation (in this case isolation ​setting), conflict, and the supernatural
is​
which will respectively be approached
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In ​Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and
A
Beautiful​
, Edmund Burke states that: “To make anything very terrible, obscurity seems in
general to be necessary
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54)
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In ​ Picture of Dorian Gray​
The
, following Dorian Gray’s confrontation with Sibyl Vane in
chapter 7, he notices the change in his portrait, which “held the secret of his life, and told his
story” (p
...
The symbolical hiding of the portrait gives rise to a very
prominent paranoia within Dorian, especially of those in his immediate surroundings; furthered
by the appearance of Sibyl Vane’s vengeful brother in chapter 16, following which he attains the
height of those particular feelings
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55), in chapter
5, while she is actually dead
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Here, similarly, Julie and Jack proceed to hide their mother’s body and bury it in cement in a
remote part of the house: the cellar
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without its consequences, since the children will have to continue living in the shadow of her
death and bear the repercussions it brings about
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Manfred makes his wishes to marry Isabella clear to her from the start but she runs away, hiding
in a church, convinced that “even Manfred’s violence would not dare to profane the sacredness
of the place” (p
...
He, however, hides the truth from Hippolita and his real motivations from

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the Knights
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This need to take control stems from their own wants, and is very
character-defining, as will be examined by the following paragraph
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The
necessity to hide things in the Gothic seems in turn to imprison the instigators of the act of
concealment, and additionally gives rise to conflict, since the hidden objects seem to sometimes
take on a life of their own and rebel from within their abode of darkness
...
As Kiernan Ryan, in ​ McEwan​
Ian
, puts it: “By secreting her body
in the home, the children deny her death and protract her sway, deferring the demise of their
own childhood” (p
...
He goes on further to assert that “their ghoulish act is a doomed attempt
to make time stand still, to ward off the advent of growth and decay like Peter Pan” (p
...
This
argument is interesting, because it highlights the surreal aspect that their lives will take on from
that point onwards, whereby authority nrelinquished and mishandled at best, housekeeping is
neglected, and their budding sexuality is contemplated in unconventional ways
...
As such, the children have to exist
within the confines of an act they have instigated by themselves entirely: they will keep
concealing the corpse, and act accordingly to the pretense that it does not exist
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Conflict will thus come into play
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Dorian’s inner monologues – beginning in chapter 7 whereby he shuns Sibyl Vane,
realises the effect this act has had upon on the portrait, resolves to remedy the situation by
asking for forgiveness but finds out about her death and takes refuge in Lord Henry’s shallow
consolations – reflect his torn nature of trying to redeem himself, and almost always ultimately
concluding that it is too late to do so
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In Chapter 13, Dorian impulsively shows Basil the portrait
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However the conflict this hidden object
produces ensues in the form of Dorian murdering Basil, an act that the book seems to suggest
was advanced by the portrait: “Dorian Gray glanced at the picture, and suddenly an
uncontrollable feeling of hatred for Basil Hallward came over him, as though it had been
suggested to him by the image on the canvas, whispered into his ear by those grinning lips” (p
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Therefore, in this scenario, Dorian is a creator of the entrapment he has created for
himself, and its consequences
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Manfred is constantly at
in
odds with his entourage and the higher forces that seem to be at work
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Manfred as a character seems to be acting against the plot, which can be interpreted
as the presence of the supernatural in the text
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The moment of ‘divine
intervention’ where “a ray of moonshine [
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23) is an

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example demonstrating that the physical setting of the story often interplays with the characters,
moulding the course of the plot
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This can also be
related to the direct opposition of setting to Manfred’s wishes; conflict exists because the
antagonist has to battle against those instances of intervention, to get what he wants
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This can be denoted through a number of ways but this
argument will focus mostly on the representation of the supernatural within all three, analyse
how they differ, and try to figure out why
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The
presence of supernatural elements is most notable in The Castle of Otranto​ story itself
​

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13), that Manfred had taken
precautions against for fear of it coming true, namely, by marrying his only son, Conrad
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198) and
that statement encompasses The Castle of Otranto​
​

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39), the
supernatural apparitions all contribute to the tense atmosphere throughout the story
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The supernatural is therefore a very real theme in
Otranto​ reason why it’s represented as such shall now be examined and because of the

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E
...
Clery (“The genesis of “Gothic”
fiction) claims that “​
Otranto ​
originates in the problem of boredom and satiety
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29)
...
61) (E
...
Clery, ​ Rise of Supernatural Fiction:
The
1762-1800)​

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Jack does not see his dead mother;
he thinks he does
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74) but right
after, as he goes to the shops, sees a woman in a red coat whom he believes to be his mother
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The passage is an example of how manifestations of the
“supernatural” in the modern take of the Gothic text has been relegated to straying thoughts
which connote death
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26) gives a synchronic insight into Jack's interior world
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Thus the
animal reflects the sense of entrapment and terror which dictates his life and dominates his
mind
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Ambler’s point is valid, but denotes that a modern perspective on a modern
Gothic text tends to rationalize most of its unsettling aspects and take into account the findings

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of modern psychology, which make sense, to a certain extent, since Jack’s nightmare can be
said to reflect his inner mental state
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Physical setting reflects inner states of minds, and captures the setting necessary for the Gothic
narrative to move forward
...
21)” (p
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While
The Castle of Otranto​
takes place in a castle, ​ Cement Garden ​
The
takes place in a house built to
look like one
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The children’s close association with the
house parallels their mindsets in the way that they treat it
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As she eases back into a quasi-maternal role, however, she becomes more closely tied to the
house as she takes care of it alongside her siblings (p
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Ran discusses a “family of orphaned
children reverting to a somnambulant state in which they well deep inside their home,
marooned from reality, accountable to nobody, and released from the obligation to mature” (p
...
This statement is well-founded, because the characters will exclusively exist according to
their association with the house, testifying how setting plays a significant role
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Being boxed up in the house also excludes the possibility of any interference
from the external world; a significant aspect persisting throughout the novel since the fact that
the children are allowed to grow without any sort of supervision determines their fate, and the

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reappearance of the external world by the end (Derek) seals it
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19), since growth and change in the children is very apparent even after
the mother’s death
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This all illustrates that, while perhaps misguided,
the characters, as people, as growing children, evolve, and even mature, all while delving deeper
into a surreal version of life, which is maybe what classifies their change as a release
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As he puts it: “If anything gives this novel
unity and animation, it is the castle
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40)
...
For example, escaping from a surely ghastly fate at the castle, Theodore,
freed by Matilda, seeks refuge in a cavern, in “the gloomiest shades, as best suited to the
pleasing melancholy that reigned in his mind” (p
...
Setting and mindset are equalled in this
scene, emphasizing his fate as a victim of the plot; Theodore indeed instigates very little action
himself, but nearly always ends up being thrust somewhere or with someone as a result of
someone else’s wants, be it Manfred or Matilda
...
In ​ Castle of Otranto​ characters very much appear to be victims of the plot, with
The
, the
external incidents moulding the course of action throughout the novel
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Dorian Gray seems to have more influence on his setting, perhaps via the subjectivity of
perception, than it does on him
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In the journal “Oscar
Wilde’s Aesthetic Gothic: Walter Pater, Dark Enlightenment, and ​ Picture of Dorian Gray​
The
”,
John Paul Riquelme highlights the setting of the scene whereby Dorian has murdered Basil:
“The phrase "fantastic shadows," with its evocation of the visual impression of chiaroscuro,
returns in a way that punctuates at times the stages in Dorian's destructive attempt to hide and
to experience who he is
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619)
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Also, the presence of light
in darkness signifies the unveiling of the truth, and this can be noted in the last chapter, where
Dorian’s old, wrinkled face, finally reveals to the world his true nature, by “a light in one of the
top windows” (p
...
​he previous statements
T
​
exemplify the somewhat theatrical set-up within which the story takes place, constantly echoing
Dorian’s thoughts and actions, as the narrative progresses and his character changes and
evolves
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Using this passage from The
​
Picture of Dorian Gray​
whereby “Lord Henry Wotton sees, along with "the fantastic shadows of
birds in flight," laburnum blossoms "whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the
burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs" (140)” (p
...
” (p
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After having just shunned Sibyl Vane, Dorian’s
view of the world is bleak
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72)
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It would have been too broad a generalisation to make that most Gothic
texts focus mainly on the physical setting, and they do not
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Characters, as will have been demonstrated, grow and evolve, flourishing in spite of and because
of their situations
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​Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
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, 1990
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Clery, E
...
"The genesis of "Gothic" fiction"
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Ed
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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002
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Print
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J
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New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995
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Kiely, Robert
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Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,
1979
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McEwan, Ian
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London: Vintage 1997, 1978
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Ryan, Kiernan
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Plymouth: Northcote House Publishers Ltd i​association with the
n

British Council​
, 1994
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Walpole, Horace
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Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2009
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Wilde, Oscar
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Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1992
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Journal(s)
Riquelme, John Paul
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3 (2000): 609-631
...
M
​
Project MUSE​

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19 March
2013
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jhu
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3riquelme02
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"Shadows on the mind: Urban alienation and the mental landscape of the children in The
​
Cement Garden​​

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Ian Mackean, n
...
Web
...

​
...
com/essays/McEwan
...


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Title: The connection between setting and character in Gothic literature
Description: Using three texts, "The Castle of Otranto" (1764) by Horace Walpole, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890) by Oscar Wilde, and "The Cement Garden" (1978) by Ian McEwan, I will be exploring the connection between setting (tone, atmostphere) and character within Gothic literature. I chose those three texts because they share some similar underlying themes, but they are also quite different from each other, having been written in distinctive eras.

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