All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by the moonlight seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a thing seemed to be stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate; so that a thin streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness across the grass towards to house, seemed to have a sentience of vitality of its own.And I pray one prayer—I repeat it till my tongue stiffens—Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on the earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in the abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul! Beauty is a form of Genius—is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in the dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned.
[...] The dark and stormy night aspect is a setting that has been borrowed many times in many gothic stories and horror films. Contrary to pop-culture's portrayal, Frankenstein is the name of the doctor who creates the monster; not the name of the monster. In fact, the monster has no name, no real identity throughout the novel. It is easy to feel pity for the young doctor who spent his young life learning and striving for knowledge, and the later part of his life in remorse for what that knowledge led him to do. [...]
[...] Bertha, the wife of Rochester, is also known in literature as mad-woman in the attic.” Literary critics have used her as a symbol for married women in the Victorian Era, she has been seen as a vampire archetype, and a metaphor for Brittan's attempt to control the “creoles” of the rest of the world. She dies in the flames of the burning Thornfield mansion. In the end, Jane gets her happy ending after finding Rochester blind, burned, a widow, and still very much in love with her. [...]
[...] In addition, the setting is also Gothic in style. Wuthering Heights is a large, empty house that sits on lonely moorland. The dialect is not the only thing that makes this story hard to understand. Many of the characters, their geneology, and their names are confusing. For example, Cathy gives birth to a daughter just before she dies. Her tender hearted husband, Edgar Linton, names the girl after her. However, Heathcliff was the only person who ever called the first Cathy by Cathy, she was known to everyone else as Catherine. [...]
[...] However, this is my fourth selection for the Victorian Gothic style because of the dark and negative views of the 19th century Europe. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is about a man whose pursuit of knowledge leads him to creating a monster. The fourth selection carries on this idea of a monster that the world seems to hate but the reader cannot help but feels pity for. The monster's feelings of betrayal, loneliness, hurt, and anger are portrayed a few times. [...]
[...] Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was also written during the Victorian Era. It was written in 1847 but begins in 1801, which was customary for authors to do at the time. It covers a time period and generations that cover 1771-1803. The dialect is not only of Victorian style English, but also of Yorkshire which is difficult to understand if you do not buy a book with notes and translations at the bottom of each page. This involves a lot of th' in place of the, i' for in, not for nothing and so on. [...]
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