Explorations of the Duality of Man in Poe's Short Stories, Coleridge's Christabel, and R L Stevenson's, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
“The Gothic, through the motif of the double explores the struggle between the good and evil within man” To what extent are Poe’s short stories, Coleridge’s Christabel and R.L Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde explorations of the duality of man.
The gothic, as a fictional genre, came about as a result of cultural changes in the eighteenth century; these cultural changes began to form through the renaissance. This transitional period between the Medieval Era and the modern world changed the way of thinking. The word itself means "revival" or "rebirth”. Moving further away from religious devotion it allowed new ideas to form, thus the development of the gothic. “Historically, the Goths were one of several Germanic tribes instrumental in the fall of the Roman Empire… [they] left no literature or art of their own, [and were] remembered only as the invaders and destroyers of the great Roman civilization.”1 This historical aspect allowed the development of the new boundary pushing form of literature, introducing elements of horror and romance into newly formed gothic texts. The first gothic novel published was The Castle of Otranto, subtitled as “A Gothic Story” written by the English author Horace Walpole. This new style of writing was imitated both through prose fiction and theatrical drama through the texts; Coleridge’s poem Christabel, many of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and R.L Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Through time the interpretations of a gothic text changes, allowing the readers to challenge what they read. All three texts were published in the 19th century, except the first edition of Christabel (published 1797). This time period was primarily based around religion and Biblical interpretations. And so, these new strange ideas may have angered the audiences due to the lack of religious devotion from the authors onto the characters. The ‘double’, otherwise known as the ‘Doppelganger,’ was defined by Federick S. Frank as “a second
The gothic, as a fictional genre, came about as a result of cultural changes in the eighteenth century; these cultural changes began to form through the renaissance. This transitional period between the Medieval Era and the modern world changed the way of thinking. The word itself means "revival" or "rebirth”. Moving further away from religious devotion it allowed new ideas to form, thus the development of the gothic. “Historically, the Goths were one of several Germanic tribes instrumental in the fall of the Roman Empire… [they] left no literature or art of their own, [and were] remembered only as the invaders and destroyers of the great Roman civilization.”1 This historical aspect allowed the development of the new boundary pushing form of literature, introducing elements of horror and romance into newly formed gothic texts. The first gothic novel published was The Castle of Otranto, subtitled as “A Gothic Story” written by the English author Horace Walpole. This new style of writing was imitated both through prose fiction and theatrical drama through the texts; Coleridge’s poem Christabel, many of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and R.L Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Through time the interpretations of a gothic text changes, allowing the readers to challenge what they read. All three texts were published in the 19th century, except the first edition of Christabel (published 1797). This time period was primarily based around religion and Biblical interpretations. And so, these new strange ideas may have angered the audiences due to the lack of religious devotion from the authors onto the characters. The ‘double’, otherwise known as the ‘Doppelganger,’ was defined by Federick S. Frank as “a second