The second genre I would like to look at is Gothic Horror- combining both horror and romance. By the Victorian era Gothic had ceased to be the dominant genre, however, in many ways it was now entering its most creative phase.
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer best known for his works in the Gothic genre, or ‘Dark Romanticism genre’. His work was mainly influenced by tragedies that filled his life, including the death of his wife due to tuberculosis.
During the 19th Century tuberculosis (or consumption as it is also known) was named The White Plague. It was seen as a ‘romantic disease’. Suffering from tuberculosis was thought to increase the sufferers’ sensitivity. The slow progress of the disease allowed for a ‘good death’ as sufferers could organize their affairs.
The disease began to represent spirituality, purity and temporal wealth, leading many young, upper class women to purposely pale their skin to achieve the consumptive appearance. The disease made people waste away, becoming very thin and pale, yet it was seen as beautiful.
The film ‘Sweeney Todd’ (2007) is a good example expressing this. Set in Victorian London in the early 19th Century, it portrays pale and ill looking characters, with dark rings under their eyes. Yet the audience finds them beautiful and appealing.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/de57/SweeneyTodd.jpg
To create the sense of a Victorian Gothic Horror genre in my chosen scene, I would perhaps have a large beautifully constructed room, but with decaying walls and gothic furnishings. The room would be grand, yet uncared for. Rumpelstiltskin could be a strange little man, or could be a monstrous creation of some kind (i.e.) Frankenstein.
Again, I have drawn up some quick spider diagrams of the genre to start the ideas process.
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