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Robert McWhinnie Page 1

The genre of the Gothic novel and visual imagery are eternally married to each other for as long as
the Gothic exists as a literary form. In true Gothic fashion the various forms of horror, the sensation
of terror and the suffocating atmosphere that the Gothic novel conjures mentally and emotionally,
can now truly manifest itself, or be brought to life through visual imagery. This can be achieved
through a wide range of mediums such as fine art, photography, moving images such as film, and
various other visual means.
The conventions established in the genre of the Gothic also enable us to analyse the medium of the
visual from a Gothic perspective. During the mid-nineteenth century, the artist John Martin visually
interpreted the events of the end of the world, the Apocalypse, as it is described in the Bible through
a series of paintings. From his seminal works, the piece known as The Day of His Wrath (figure 1)
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focused solely on the destruction of the world in preparation for the coming Final Judgement of God.
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and
the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of
heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of
a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every
mountain and island were moved out of their places.
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The conventions of what makes a Gothic novel permeate through this painting probably more so
than any other painting. On first glancing at the painting, the first thing that is apparent is the use of
dark and gloomy colours. The colours that are present, other than the colour of darkness, represent
an element of sheer doom, with the fiery use of dark blood red and the sporadic blast of destructive
elements displayed in white such as the lightening or the mountain exploding. Without even going in
to further analysis of the painting, the viewer is aware that it is a display of doom and destruction.
The use of darkness and gloom to set the atmosphere is a common trait shared by nearly all of
Gothic novels. The reader becomes aware of the suffocating gloom which obscures the clarity of
what is within the darkness, as is in found Stokers Dracula,
The baying of wolves sounded nearer and nearer, as though they were closing in on us from
every side. I grew dreadfully afraid I could not see anything in the darkness.
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We can see that Martin has kept as close to the biblical text as possible, by depicting the moon
blood red, with no sunlight present and a deep darkness due to sackcloth black sun. The explosions

1
Images found after the bibliography of this essay
2
King James Bible Revelation 6:12-14
3
B. Stoker Dracula, pp.15
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of bright colours are from the destructive force from the heavens as the heavens and the earth
rolled together like a scroll.
Art critic Simon Wilson describes this piece and the other apocalyptic pieces from Martin as the
most sublime and extraordinary pictures in the world.
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As well as being an aesthetic device, the
sublime is also a fundamental principle that underlines Gothic literature. Sublimity is understood to
connote a surpassing excellence, an Everest of achievement, where great thoughts, noble feeling,
diction and arrangement all coincided
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. Edmund Burke, however, additionally describes the Sublime
as,
Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say,
whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a
manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the
strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.
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While the feeling of fear and a sheer state of terror that would necessitate an extreme emotion in
ones mind when confronted with a monstrosity, there may still be those who would bravely
confront those fears (and monsters) as demonstrated by Van Helsing with regards to Dracula,
he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. But we are strong, each in our
purpose; and we are all strong together This battle has but begun, and in the end we shall
win so sure as that God sits on high to watch over His children.
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Martins Wrath demonstrates the source of the sublime to be not that of a monstrosity but one
that is elemental as well as divine. Burke describes terror as a passion that so effectually robs the
mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning. The terror of forces out of ones control such as the
force of nature and the coming of death is established in Wrath, with mankind in the darkness of
the painting having the world literally torn from under their feet as well as crushed upon them. But
the fact that Martin does not simply use the uncontrollable power of nature, but ultimately the
infinite might of God, elevates the sublime nature of the painting immeasurably.
A common trait in the Gothic genre is the transgression of the socially and legally accepted
boundaries. These produce the thematic core of the novel, concluding with the transgressions and
its assailants being overcome by the forces of good and those boundaries being reaffirmed

4
S. Wilson, Tate Gallery an Illustrated Companion, pp.76
5
J.A. Cuddon Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory pp.874
6
E. Burke A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful, pp.1
7
B. Stoker Dracula, pp.292-293
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[Botting]. Here in this painting we find the same Gothic trait, in that the transgressions of man have
come to its end, and the most supreme of reaffirmations of the boundaries set by God are now
taking place.
These same Gothic concepts can also be found in Joseph Mallord William Turners Shade and
Darkness - The Evening of the Deluge (figure 2). Similar to Martin, Turner attempts to visually
manifest a powerful biblical story, this time of The Flood from the Old Testament, which is
apocalyptic in the sense that all of mankind and earthly creatures were annihilated, but a select few.
I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance
that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
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The contrast and use of the colours in this piece is established in the title, Shade and Darkness, for
there is a complete absence of light. The intense elemental ferocity of the deluge of rain completely
reduces the sunlight to a mere shade, whereas the volume of rain establishes an intense and
overbearing darkness. The contrast between the two colours, that is literally grey shade immersed
within the black darkness, invokes similar bleak and sinking emotions of despair and hopelessness
that is common throughout the Gothic genre. The extreme, uncontrollable power of nature and, as
in Martins Wrath; the supreme power of God, can only return us to that same underlining Gothic
principle, the sublime. In reflecting on the works of Immanuel Kant, Donald Crawford says,
according to Kant, we experience a displeasure, this time caused by the realization of the
inadequacy of our physical powers of resistance to natures might.
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The elemental powers completely distort the painting, so that nothing definite can be made out.
Looking intensely one could make out what seems to be the figure of a dog and other animals, as
well as what I can only interpret a mesh of human figures in the darkness and blur of the vicious
deluge. Running along the contour of swirling vortex of rain birds can be seen in flight. The essence,
however, of Shade and Darkness is the obscurity of the image. The terror caused by obscurity is a
key concept used in the Gothic novel as is found in Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto,
Diego had no sooner opened the door, then he cried out and ran back I ran back too, and
said, is it the ghost? The ghost! No, no, said Diego, and his hair stood on end it is a giant, I
believe; he is all clad in armour, for I saw his foot, and part of his leg, and they are as large as

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King James Bible Genesis 7:4
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D.W. Crawford Kant, from The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics pp.63-64
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the helmet below the court. As he said these words, my lord, we heard a violent motion and
the rattling of armour
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Like Shade of Darkness, this passage establishes the sheer terror experienced by the characters of
something which is obscure and cannot be seen with visual clarity. The speaker did not even see the
giant limb himself and solely reacted on the reaction of Diego and the violent motion of which he
heard. On this concept, Burke says,
To make any thing very terrible, obscurity seems in general to be necessary. When we
know the full extent of any danger, when we can accustom our eyes to it, a great deal of
apprehension vanishes who considers how greatly night adds to our dread, in all cases of
danger, and how much the notions of ghosts and goblins, of which can form clear ideas,
affect minds
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As mentioned previously with Martins Wrath, the reaffirmation of what Fred Botting refers to as
the conservative boundaries are key ideas to what makes a novel Gothic. Again, we find the divine
restoration of order to mankind by the extermination of all of those who are wrong doers and
leaving the righteous to inherit the planet; thus re-establishing the conservative boundaries.
In conclusion, the various conventions which determine a novel as Gothic can equally be applied to
these works of art. The combination of supernatural elements with elemental forces of nature and
the impact upon the subjects contextualised within these art frames (notably every living creature
on earth), face the same dread, if not more elevated, than those subjects and characters within most
Gothic novels. The Gothic understanding of the concept of the Sublime and its characteristics can
be firmly applied to these paintings as equally as they can to the Gothic novel. Although the
mentioned works of art by Martin and Turner may not necessarily be categorised as Gothic works by
the artists themselves or the galleries that house them, they can certainly be analysed and criticised
within the context of the Gothic.



10
H. Walpole The Castle of Otranto, pp.35
11
E. Burke A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful, pp.2
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Bibliography
Botting, F., 1996. Gothic. London: Routledge
Burke, E., 1757. Extracts from Edmund Burke: A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our
Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful. [Print out from Blackboard]. London: University of
Westminster
Crawford, D. W., Kant. In: Gaut, B. and Lopes, D. M. eds., 2005. The Routledge Companion to
Aesthetics. 2
nd
ed. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 55-71.
Cuddon, J.A., 1999. Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory. 4th Ed. London: Penguin
Stoker, B., 2011. Dracula. 2
nd
ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press
The Official King James Bible Online. 2012. Genesis and Revelation. [online] Available at
<http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org> [Accessed 2 November 2012]
Walpole, H., 2008. The Castle of Otranto. 5
th
ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Wilson, S., 1990. Tate Gallery - An Illustrated Companion, London: Tate Publishing
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Figure 1. John Martin: The Day of His Wrath. 1851-53
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Figure 2. Joseph Mallord William Turner: Shade and Darkness - The Evening of the Deluge exhibited 1843

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