Holly Mcvaigh

Matthew Lewis and Mary Shelley: Comparing the Gothic and Romantic Holly Mcvaigh

From its first appearance in England in 1764 to current day, Gothic literature has been grossly misunderstood. Fortunately, for those who find the genre irresistible, the classics remain deliberated and widely read today. While there are distinctive characteristics of both the Gothic and Romantic styles, certain elements intertwine the two. This conjugation of the two generes is best illustrated by the works of Matthew Lewis and Mary Shelley, i.e. The Monk and Frankenstein. This book is a close examination of said authors and their masterpieces. These literary greats illustrate how humans repress indecent, perhaps even immoral, thoughts and tendencies. It is through the submergence of oneself in these novels that the reader is able to momentarily escape reality and catch a glimpse of how the "immoral" side lives. This analysis will be helpful to those in English courses and scholarly circles analyzing the works of Lewis or Shelley, the Romantic or Gothic genres, influences of the Enlightenment, or the Inquisition.