Romanticism and Dark Romanticism/Gothic Fiction

It affected a lot of things in the history of the world, but its greatest influences have been on literature, visual art, and music. Romanticism began in the late 18th century, ending around the middle of the 19th century.  The Romantic movement has some unique features. In this movement, the reader may encounter themes that are at the forefront of imagination, emotion, individuality, and vision in a Romantic work. At the same time, Romanticism rejects rational things and rules.

For instance, William Wordsworth, who is one of the most important poets of the Romantic Period, defines poetry as ‘the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.’ It can be understood that there is no rule even in poems, and instead of rules, there are emotions because rules and ration are not the most significant objects in the Romantic Period. 'The theme of nature is also an incontestable fact in the Romantic Period. "Nature" and "City" started to fight during the Industrial Revolution because people left their villages and their lands to work in factories. Therefore, Romanticism supported Nature in this war and argued that people cannot live without nature, this is not suitable for human nature. Also, like every literary movement, Romanticism has many subgenres. One of the most important of these is Gothic Fiction/Dark Romanticism. Therefore, what is gothic fiction/dark romanticism literally?

All literary genres have tremendous features, they all have their own beauty, but the peculiarities of the gothic fiction/genre make itself a little more exciting and a little more outlandish than the other genres. It's atmosphere, theme, plot, setting, and characters are full of unique characteristics

The first one is "the dark side of human nature." A Romantic writer does not draw so much attention to the dark side of humans, but it can be seen that darker parts of human nature play the leading role in Gothic Fiction/Dark Romanticism. For example, a character's dark world, his or her obsessive thoughts, and acts are also considered significant issues in Dark Romanticism. But on the other hand, only the pure nature of man is tried to be revealed in a Romantic work as mentioned above.  The second one is "the horror and terror elements" that arouses in the readers' veins. A gothic writer may evoke chilling terror by using mysterious and frightening circumstances. These horror circumstances may include; supernatural events, death, rotting bodies, curses, haunted people, madness, creatures, etc. In Marry Shelley's Frankenstein, which has a major place in Gothic Literature, Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, gathers severed body parts to create a human, but he creates a monster. As seen, Shelley uses supernatural elements, and thus she causes a great terror in the reader. The last one is "the dark settings." Dungeons, labyrinths, dark corridors, extreme landscapes, and rugged mountains are some of the indispensable places in Dark Romanticism's setting. In Castle of Otranto, which is defined as the first gothic novel, the setting is full of labyrinths and dark elements. But Composed upon Westminster Bridge by Wordsworth is one of the most important Romanticist poems, the setting is defined as heaven. Wordsworth's work wants to take the reader on a journey towards brightness, while Walpole's work wants to draw the reader into the darkness.

These three substances are the backbone of Gothic Literature and Dark Romanticism, and these are not only the distinguishing features of Gothic from Romanticism but also its most distinctive cornerstone of this genre.