AMST 2103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: American Enlightenment, Gothic Fiction, Sea Serpent
Document Summary
March 30th major issues in the 19th century. Spawn"s serpents and other fantastical creatures such as moby dick. Sea serpents were brought up out of nature rather than being created. The sea serpents could represent the fear of the unknown. During the enlightenment religions were being challenged by science so people began to discover monsters such as sea monsters and calling them leviathans from the bible. Washington irving created the long lasting story the legend of sleepy hollow . James whale another version of frankenstein in 1931 and adapted it into a film that was based upon. An example would be edgar allen poe and his stories that would mess with one"s emotions. Features of a gothic story: darkness, castles or large creepy houses or places with basements, obsession or madness, breaking taboos, and dead bodies. Race and slavery became productive of all kinds of monster tales.
