Interplay Between Fantasy And Reality In The

Gothic Essay, Research Paper

The Gothic – Interplay between Realism and Fantasy

The purpose of the imagination, I believe, is to offer us solace and shelter from situations and life passages which would otherwise prove unendurable. The imagination which so often kept me awake and in terror as a child has seen me through some terrible bouts of stark raving reality as an adult.

( Stephen King Nightmares and Dreamscapes : 8 )

This quote from one of America’s leading writers’ highlights one of the most important reasons for the use of fantasy in gothic fiction. Fantasy cannot only create terror but can mentally protect us from real life horrors which we don’t want to acknowledge – not necessarily a good thing as much gothic fiction has shown.

I will study the interplay between the elements of realism and fantasy via the use of the following texts: Angela Carter’s’ The Bloody Chamber focusing mainly on “The Bloody Chamber” and “The Lady of the House of Love”. Stephen King’s The Shining, there will also be references to Stanley Kubrick’s film version of The Shining and Wes Craven’s modern gothic film The People Under the Stairs.

The most obvious use of the fantasy/reality interface in gothic fiction is the fact that the fantasy almost always exists within the reality. On a basic level this means that the stereotypical gothic castle where the story ( a fantasy ) unfolds is always in a real place. Dracula is fantasy but takes place in the “real world”, The Overlook Hotel and the things that go on there in The Shining are pure gothic fantasy but the hotel is set in a real region of the Colorado Rockies and is near real towns such as Sidewinder ( named after a real pass through the Rocky Mountains that really does get dangerously snowed-in in winter ). I could go on for hours but you probably get the point by now. It is very rare that a gothic text is set in a purely fantastical world – modern sci-fi gothic can be an exception. You also find that the writer very rarely begins the story in the gothic setting, it is introduced via the real world. In The Shining we travel through Colorado to get to the Overlook for instance. This helps make the distinction between real and fantasy even clearer, we have seen what is “normal” and this heightens our perceptions of what is “abnormal”. There is also a more simple reason which explains why horror writers favour using this technique; fear.

It is scarier if horror takes place within the real world as for the whole of the novel we have the nagging thought that these perverse little gothic worlds are existing within our own safe environment. This in turn leads to the inevitable “well, maybe something like this could really happen. Oh God! What if something like this is happening right now, maybe in the house next door!” The last part of this thought is becoming even more appropriate nowadays as modern gothic texts are being set in perfect suburban neighbourhoods. All of this is null and void if the gothic fantasy is set in an entirely alien world, the story might be scary but that’s about it. However, evil in close proximity to us is always a frightening thought and one that gothic writers will exploit to it’s full potential.

The Shining and both of the Carter stories exhibit a slight blurring of the boundaries between the “real” world and the gothic worlds. By this I mean that the gothic is not confined solely inside the castles or hotel. In each story the scenery and feeling becomes more and more gothic until it culminates when the central setting – “a microcosmic arena where universal forces collide” ( Malin cited in King Dense Macabre : 315 ) – is reached. “The faery solitude of the place; with its turrets of misty blue, its courtyard, its spiked gate” ( Carter “The Bloody Chamber” : 13 ). ” The great bulk of the mansion above them, whose fa ade loured over the village.” ( Carter “The lady of the House of Love” : 99 ).

The whole valley floor was spread out below them, the slopes they had

climbed falling away with such dizzying suddenness that she knew to

look down there for too long would bring on nausea and vomiting.

She could see the highway clinging to the side of this cathedral spire.

Further up, seemingly set directly into the slope itself she saw the

grimly clinging pines and in the middle of it the hotel.

( King The Shining : 63 – 64 )

One of the ironies here is that whilst the Carter stories seem on the surface to be the most “gothic” and The Shining to be more of a horror novel, it is in fact The Shining that has the highest quota of gothic ingredients. Out of the three it has the most sublime, yet inhospitable, scenery – which Kubrick’s film demonstrates excellently. It has apparitions who seemingly come to life and exist within rooms. There are the famous topiary animals in the grounds of the hotel which seem to chase characters. Also it has the most gothic storyline – murder of family members, madness, supernatural visions etc. It also employs what Irvin Malin – cited in King’s Dense Macabre – calls “the new American gothic” where the gothic setting “functions as an image of authoritarianism or confining narcissism a growing obsession with ones own problems; a turning inward” ( King Dense Macabre : 315 )

It should be pointed out that this is not always the case, especially in more mo

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