Throughout the course of the semester
in reading many of the gothic and romantic novels and poems, many of the texts
all had obtained there ideas from the same source. Which is the dark side of
the human self which the church and parents always guide our focus away from. The
poets and writer dare enter a world in which many see, but few pay any
attention because the truth in what the human consciences and subconscious live
with often reveals not only the beauty of humanity, but also its personal
demons. From the unveiling of the truth, whether the beautiful or the horrible,
one truth remains the same, which is people do have big reactions when confronted
with a presence far greater than what is theirs. However, the way the truth
reveals to the individual varies among person to person as the writers and
poets of the romantic period reveal.
Truth revealed in the impending
doom
Often when faced with the truth,
the truth lays out the prophecy of whether the hope of the future or a person’s
doom. Therefore, in reaction to the end approaching the individual the
individual often may behave in certain ways and make decisions which may seem
unreasonable at times. In the story of Castle of Otranto with the character Manfred
being an example of the truth leading to
the destruction of the individual self by the prophetic truth presented in
front of him, creates a scenario in which people with power do not want to give
it up or lose it. Whether or not he is alive to keep it, his heirs are the extension
of his will of power. This reminds me of a painting done by Eugene Delacroix.
The painting, the death of Sardanaplus, reveals the king obviously
faced with the defeat of his war ultimately destroys everything he owns from
the concubines to the slaves he owns. The art is a representation of humanity’s
inevitability to face the truth presented in front of it and rather than face
the doom head on, they rather destroy themselves and others to say we were
destroyed by our own hands instead of our enemies. In closer examination he has
no care of the horrors he has done, he has become instead the enemy of death he
has been fighting all along. The fear of death is the theme in which he had
inflicted on others as instead aimed towards him. Therefore, is own fear has
become the monster of inflicting death on others.
The horror of the truth revealed in our dream.
The idea of fear becoming the extension of ourselves was a completely
new idea of the time during the romantic era. For many years people of thought
dreams, the environment, and other people were just independent forces which
often times people were afraid of because they knew nothing if the forces they
didn’t control would harm them. People give the horror image of the forces
external from themselves, in which entities are not giving meaning until we
give them meaning. A blog by Maposa mentions the idea of dreams holding significant
power over the will of the person, therefore alters the state of mind in which
the person doesn’t have a secure idea of where he is or what is happening. Now
for most people who experience nightmares all have the central theme in which
they have no control to their desires in the mind. From this we receive the
notion if losing control of what is happening as sometimes we feel helpless.
This painting is an example of the idea of fear overwhelming
us with no hope of overcoming the nightmares which are presented to us. We see
that the environment itself has become the entities in which give us are fears
more power over us. The painter Henry Fuseli gives an accurate description to
what most endure in sleeping through the nightmare. The nightmare itself is an
entity in which is the truth of our fears in the subconscious. Our subconscious
plays a huge role in which dictates not only by our consciousness, but also the
way we interpret the world in front of us. The subconscious is one of the key
to unlock our greatest vision of the horror in the world.
The truth revealed in the state of mind of substances
Another case in which the truth of horror is revealed is in
the state of mind in which the character in the story the confessions of an
opium by Thomas de Quincy. In his display of seeing the truth through the opium
he consumed, he sees the horrors in which his subconscious is forced to display
therefore becoming almost paranoid. The truth about himself and the fears in
which manifest in his dreams opens the mind of the reader to which this drug
use isn’t for pleasure anymore as he started, but to escape the pains of
himself and the reality that has harmed him. Most drug addicts usually use it
for other purposes other than the mere pleasure itself, in which they see the
life nothing more as meaningless. The state of mind they are under they see it as
their perfect world. Drugs create false consciences in which they feeling of
bliss are the perfect world. As Thomas
de Quincy states in one passage from “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”:
“That is the creative state of the eye, increased, a
sympathy seemed to arise between the walking and the dreaming states of the
brain in one point-that whatsoever I happened to call up and to trace by a voluntary
act upon the darkness was very apt to transfer itself to my dreams, so that I feared
to exercise this faculty, for as Midas turned all things to gold that yet
baffled his hopes and defrauded his human desires” (Thomas).
In reference to king Midas who turned everything into gold
believing the gift was the best thing he had ever received which created his
perfect world, Thomas believed the same thing when he consumed the opium to his
will. Though his imaginative was open, the imaginative part of him was overrun with
the horrors of what his subconscious was displaying. So as his body aims for
the pleasure he first obtained from his early usages to reach the new state of
mind and his perfect world his body paid for it. As Kalant states “in the nervous system, the adaptive changes take the
form of "drug-opposite" changes, which offset the action of the drug
when it is present and thus give rise to tolerance, so that larger doses of
drug are necessary to produce the effects that were formerly produced by
smaller doses” (Kalant). Though to reach the state of mind of seeking
the truth through subconscious was sought ought for by many by the usage of
drugs, some people did harm to themselves in doing so. The substances of drugs
reaching to the truth were by within itself one of the horrors of seeking the
truth within the consciousness.
The truth awakened by
the environment and setting
In another instance
where the truth of the other self is revealed is the Rime of the Ancient
Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The story displays the truth to the characters
in the story it’s revealed by the environment itself. Setting and environment
in literature tends to also been entity in which impacts the person through the
overwhelming presence of surrounding the character. As A.C Swanepoel points out,
“the language used to describe the mariner's seascape
contributes less to a visual picture of the space than to a sense of awe and
wonder at a world that is greater and vaster than humans can comprehend. Put
differently, Coleridge's images combine and synthesis familiar and unfamiliar
phenomena and guide readers to reconcile these in such a way that they are
constantly brought to an important realization, namely that the world surpasses
human understanding” (Swanepoel). As the reader obtains the idea of what the imagery,
the environment is like for the mariner in the story, we are introduced to what
the sea truly is in the face of mankind. Here is art piece in which displays
the overwhelming power of the setting affecting the very self of the
characters:
'
The display of the
sailors in the art piece shows the anguish of an individual when presented with
an ordeal that tears all sense of hope within the individual. However,
recalling a discussion in class about the ancient mariner, the sailors were at
guilt in partaking in the slave trade. The conditions for the slaves in the
ships were horrific and the men who operated the ships were often unforgiving
to those who did not want to obey orders. Therefore, the sufferings the sailors
endured were punishment of the crimes they have committed. Many of the people
in class never read the story as a form of abolitionary literature, but as man’s
ordeal against nature. Coleridge questioned the actions of what the British people
did in regards to slave and had adopted the ideals by the French revolution
that men had liberties when born. Also another theme that was discussed in the
story there was the symbolism of hope being destroyed or lost by nature itself.
One instances the shooting of the bird which marked the fate of many of the
sailors. The bird was an albatross, a bird which was a symbol of hope for many sailors.
In addition, the sun was represented as a god that punished the sailors for the
death of the bird they killed. The sailors in the story gave the meaning to
what the sea and animals were in the story, which originated from the sailors
self.
The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner uses the entire setting to alter the behaviors of the characters
in the story. The truth in the story was revealed by the setting itself which
affected the conscious and unconsciousness of the characters. From this notion
of the truth revealed by the sea, the reader then understands the power of what
nature has among humans. The story reminds us we are small compared to what
nature really is.
In conclusion the
writers of the romantic and gothic era opened the eyes to the audience to the possibilities
of opening the doorway to the truth of the other self. From the drugs to the environment
itself which awoke something inside the individual which opened to the beauty
or horror of themselves. Poets and writers obtained there awaking through many
paths, but many commented of the times they lived in. Therefore, the truth goes
both ways and the keys towards the unlocking of the horrors we tend to stray
away from are much closer to ourselves than we think.
Work
Cited
Kalant, H. "Opium Revisited: A Brief
Review of its Nature, Composition, Non-Medical use and Relative Risks." Addiction 92.3
(1997): 267-77. ProQuest. Web. 7 May 2013.
Swanepoel, A.C. "Coleridge's
transcendental imagination: the seascape beyond the senses in 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'." Journal of Literary Studies 26.1
(2010): 191+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 May
2013.
Quincy, Thomas D. The Age of Romanticism. 2nd nd ed. Vol. 4. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2010. 580-81. Confessions of an Opium
Eater. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment