... of two similar motifs associated with the Gothic genre, dreams and sleep, in several of his plays in hope of showing how thoroughly grounded the relationship between Shakespeare and Gothic fiction truly is. According to The Oxford English Dictionary, a motif is defined as "A (usually recurrent) feature of a composition, esp. a distinctive or salient one; the structural principle or dominant ... objects forming a distinct element of a design; any small design or symbol". William Freedman, in "The Literary Motif: A Definition and Evaluation," in Essentials of the Theory of Fiction, elabo...

• Word Count: 2655
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... which one constructs meaning, by defamilarising the familiar through the figure of Lestat who is mortal and immoral, sympathetic and horrific, specific and symbolic. Thus, Rice's novel, like all Gothic fiction, "symbolises the unresolvable, shifting, but perpetual paradox of human nature- (MacAndrew, 250). However, Gothic narratives also often rely on the tension between the desire to prolong the pleasurable experience of ... adaptable one and can function as a breaker of moral, social and sexual taboos, but in keeping with a Marxist approach, the growing currency of the vampire in earl...

• Word Count: 2816
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Revelations" (Nelson 7). The point is that both of Utterson's names, Gabriel and John, allude to men who were revealers or explainers of the truth, which is Utterson's task in this fiction. The irony is that Mr. Utterson is a lawyer by profession and the stereotype for a lawyer is being crooked or a liar. The narrator gives some information about Mr. Utterson at the ... he is about to meet. Another symbol is the key to Jekyll's laboratory. Hyde has possession of the key at all time; the key represents power and authority. In this fiction, the key utilizes satanic power, as Hyde is the o...

• Word Count: 2799
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... as a combination of temptation, sin and punishment, and superstition. Here, Gothic literature repudiates the once untouchable depiction of faith, the critical portrayal of religion in text becoming a fundamental aspect in fiction....

• Word Count: 4055
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Isabella; its contents open Catherine's eyes to Isabella's manipulative and ambitious ways. In Northanger Abbey, Austen intended to reflect a contrast between a normal, healthy-natured girl and the romantic heroines of fiction thorough the use of characterization. By portraying the main character, Catherine Moreland, as a girl slightly affected with romantic notions, Jane Austen exhibits the contrast between the world as it is ... ...

• Word Count: 2803
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School