In this second episode of the 'Art of Gothic', by Andrew Graham-Dixon, he starts off by reminding us of some of the main points that he covered in the last episode, and then goes on to talk about how things got deeper and more scary at the beginning of the 1800s. He talks about the urbanisation of the British landscape. He also talks about the two main areas in the society surrounding the gothic, the gothic revival and the dark side of 'horror and nightmares'.
He begins by talking about the Victorian era as well as the beginning of the 19th century, and how the gothic fed the anxiety of people and how people were 'soulless' cogs in the wheel of the industrial revolution machine. At this time scientists had begun to study the world more closely and how it could be harnessed for our benefit. There was one main artist, Joseph Wright, who documented these studies, and who is said to have gothic influences and tendencies in his artwork. I thought that this was interesting as it showed how the gothic was being adapted and still used even as time went on, as well as how important it was still in society.
Graham-Dixon also talks about one of the most famous Gothic writers, Mary Shelley. He talks about her early life, as well as how she found inspiration to create her famous novel 'Frankenstein' which she used to showcase 'progress and the danger that comes with it'. He also talks about her visit to Lord Byron's villa on the shores of Lake Geneva with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley where, to while away a harsh storm, told each other horror stories. Mary Shelley talked of a mad scientist who was, 'hell bent on his quest to build a creature, a man from decaying body parts, and then to animate him'. She drew inspiration from real experiments to bring animals back to life using powerful electrical currents. One of the main points that I found most interesting was the point that this story touched on a 19th century fear that 'science might run out of control'. I find this interesting as I believe that this is a fear that many people still have today due to the enormity of the power that science, and scientists have.
He goes on to discuss the fear of modern science further, by stating that all these new discoveries were actually, 'destroying the human capacity for wonder, mapping God out of the equation'. William Blake, like Shelley, also created his own monster, almost as a lash back against the new information given by scientific discovery. It shows a man who had, 'been turned into a flea as a form of punishment for having a fierce blood thirsty nature'. He is using the gothic 'to take revenge on the scientific attitude'. I also thought this was interesting as I still think that there is a conflict between science and religion about the earth and its processes and how we came to be.
Science and its products became a large source of inspiration for many new literary works, such as poems from Byron, Wordsworth, Keats experimented with Opium, a product of science, and Thomas De Quincy went onto write, 'The Confessions of An English Opium Eater' It is an account of his experiences with Opium, and is 'almost a warning against the dangers of excess' It however has many gothic tendencies throughout of, 'a fascination of the interior world that it opens up'.
He also discusses Penny Dreadfuls, and how 'they tapped into working class fears about the modern city'. Some of the most fearful characters, were Sweeney Todd and Spring-Heeled Jack, with the imagery of these stories being gothic. There was a fear that nobody new anybody and people could almost disappear into the city streets. These Penny Dreadfuls actually began, 'easing urban anxieties, they also boosted adult literacy'.
Andrew Graham- Dixon goes on to discuss other topics such as one of the most popular novelists, Charles Dickens who throughout his works has many supernatural elements, artist John Martin who used the gothic to depict his visions of the end of the world, as well as Gothic optimists, where reviving the medieval became popular, as' a return to the spiritual world'. I found this episode really interesting as it touched on many ideas and fears that I think our still relevant as well as giving more of an insight behind great novelists, artists and poets that are still famous and influential today.
