LHUM 1305 Online W20 Final Exam: Gothic Literature, Horror, and Gender

This document presents a completed final exam for LHUM 1305, a course likely focused on Gothic Literature. The exam is divided into three parts: Part A consists of multiple-choice questions testing comprehension of course materials, including films like *Poltergeist* and literary works by authors such as Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood. Part B requires short answer responses, exploring themes like the presence of the gothic in various cultural products, the role of children in horror films, and the rewriting of traditional gothic themes by Atwood and Carter. Finally, Part C presents essay questions, offering students a choice between analyzing the effectiveness of different plot structures in Gothic/horror or examining the gendering of Gothic themes. The student's essay answers the question of how accurate or helpful is it to view gothic themes being gendered, providing a detailed analysis and referencing course materials including the works of Carter, and other key authors, and horror films, with proper citations.

LHUM 1305 Online W20
Final Exam
This exam has three parts.
Part A Multiple Choice
10 questions x 1 mark each = 10 marks
Part B Short Answer
3 short answer questions x 5 marks = 15 marks
Part C Essay
1 essay question x 25 marks = 25 marks
The exam is out of 50, which is converted into a mark out of 20.
Good luck!
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Part A Highlight the correct answer.
1. Poltergeist demonstrates how gothic/horror can both instill fear and entertain, and at
the same time
a) critique society
b) suggest how to build suburbs more effectively
c) critique the entertainment industry
d) all of the above
2. Match the following plot description with the correct film: A large old house is
haunted by the ghost of a child who died there or nearby.
a) The Amityville Horror
b) The Orphanage
c) The Changeling
d) b and c
3. All but which of these horror films involves the inviting of a priest, medium, etc. to
“get rid of” or “communicate with” the presence that is haunting/possessing:
a) The Exorcist
b) The Changeling
c) The Innocents
d) The Amityville Horror

4. Place the following plot elements of “Wolf-Alice” in the correct chronological order:
A Alice finds a mirror and sees her reflection for the first time B Peasants shoot Alice’s
wolf mother and send Alice to live in a convent C Alice jumps into the Duke’s bed and
licks his wounds D The nuns at the convent can’t manage Alice so they send her to live
with a werewolf called The Duke.
a) ABCD
b) BDAC
c) CABD
d) BACD
5. The following plot summary describes which of Carter’s stories best? A Romanian
countess-vampire who wears her mother’s wedding dress regularly uses Tarot cards. She
feeds on the blood of male travellers, burying them in her garden. One day a British
soldier, a virgin, appears in the Countess’s neighbourhood. He does not believe in the
supernatural. The Countess is injured and the soldier kisses her wound, eventually
causing her death. The soldier rejoins his regiment.
a) “The Bloody Chamber”
b) “The Lady of the House of Love”
c) “Wolf-Alice”
d) “The Company of Wolves”
6. Jordan Peele, director/writer of the recent films Get Out and Us has clearly been
influenced by early gothic writers because his films also include:
a) entrapment and doubles/doppelgangers
b) entrapment and self-propelling wheelchairs
c) religious-based revenge plots
d) religious-based exorcisms
7. Like other horror movies of the early 1970s (e.g. Carrie), The Exorcist, as critics have
noted, could be interpreted as a reaction to society’s
a) disillusionment with politicians
b) disillusionment with religion
c) discomfort with the rising power of non-Christian religions
d) discomfort with the rise of feminism and its increased freedoms for women
8. Which of the following Atwood stories from Stone Mattress is not about a woman who
kills a man:
a) “Lusus Naturae”
b) “The Freeze-Dried Groom”
c) “Stone Mattress”

d) none of the above
9. Like Carter before her, in “Lusus Naturae” and “The Freeze-Dried Groom” Atwood
ties gothic themes to women’s concerns through the metaphor of the
a) cold, snowy city
b) wedding dress
c) ghost
d) storage locker
10. Atwood’s Stone Mattress can be considered a “meta-” or “postmodern” gothic fiction
in the sense that her stories are often about
a) monsters
b) werewolves
c) writers who have published successful gothic/fantasy books
d) writers who have been murdered
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Part B Choose three questions. Type your answers beneath the
questions.
1. Gothic culture exists not just in films and fiction. Explain the presence of “the
gothic” in two other cultural products.
The Gothic tradition came into being in Europe in the 18th century after a
wave of rapid and far-reaching social, cultural and theological change. Written in
this tradition are linked inherently with the social context in which they are
created. Two examples of gothic as seen in cultural products are gothic
architecture and gothic festivals. Gothic architecture, the European architectural
style from the mid-12th to the 16thcentury, in particular the masonry style that has
cavernous areas. The Whitby Goth Weekend is a festival with a strong Gothic
pedigree. It takes place twice annually in April and October. Goths from all over
England and the world flock to Halloween for two days of concerts, nightclubs
and more in Whitby every year.
2. Why have almost all the films we’ve watched had children at their center? What’s
“gothic” about children? Use at least two of our films in your answer.
Children can function for social anxieties as a microcosm. You are mostly
negated by 'a voice' (especially if you are a child), or when they have a 'voice'
they are skewed by the 'youth inexperience,' which may sound innocent.
Poltergeist, "1-2 — Freddy is coming, 3-4 — Better lock your door." — Elm
Straight and Dead People "— The 6th Sense; these can be some examples. Many,
especially some very common, horror films include children as a central part of
the plot. for instance- Insidious, the Exorcist, The Omen, the Ring, etc. Children

are not regulated by social standards since they are not yet active. The general
concept of safety is regulated by common assumptions that "these rules are played
by" and children are outside, they are considered to be "unpredictable" and can
trigger fear.
3. To what degree are Atwood and Carter re-writing traditional gothic? Discuss a story
each by both Atwood and Carter – and mention at least one by an earlier male writer – in
your answer.
4. Gothic stories and films often dramatize the dichotomy between freedom and
entrapment. Discuss how and why this is true about one film and one story from
the course.
In many horror movies like Insidious, poltergeist, Amityville horror and
more, there is a certain theme that prevails. A struggle between freedom and
entrapment is often seen. Poltergeist's storyline concentrates on a family whose
homes are invaded by malevolent ghosts who kidnap their younger daughter and
the family's attempts to take her back into the real environment. It clearly shows
that being in the real world is freedom and that is what the family wants to do.
The world of ghosts or supernatural is a trap for the living. Almost all
gothic/horror movies revolve around the same concept thought he approach might
be different.
Part C Choose one question. Type your answer beneath the question.
Read the following statements and then choose one of the questions below to respond to
in essay format. In your essay, ensure you are using evidence from at least one of our
authors and one of our filmmakers. Feel free to use our four critics from the first couple
of weeks as well (Griffiths, Groom, King, Ringo). Remember to include in-text citations
as well as a list of references at the end.
 Gothic/horror fiction and films offer two main plots: they either show how what is
scary is found inside our own mind and body, or they show how what is scary is
found outside of ourselves, e.g. in monsters and ghosts and houses.
Essay question 1: Which of the two types of plot is more compelling and why?
 One could argue that Gothic/horror fiction and films can be divided into
masculine and feminine tendencies. For example ‘masculine’ stories/films
showcase themes like revenge and murder, while ‘feminine’ ones showcase
themes like loss and grief.
Essay question 2: How accurate or helpful is it to view gothic themes being gendered?

Introduction
Gothic was one of the most popular genres of the late 18th and early 19th
Centuries, and Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto was widely regarded as the first
Gothic novel, published first by the public in 1764. Ann Radcliffe was the first great
writer of the Gothic novel and the most popular English author of the 18th Century. To
Gothic literature, the portrayal of women's identity is important. Presenting women in a
certain light may also have a deeper impact on a text, which shifts the perception of a
reader entirely.
‘Gender-ism’ in Gothic Themes
Women are depicted as objects of wishes, mother figures, supernatural entities, and
sometimes characterized by their biological positions, by Angela Carter, "The Bloody
Chamber and other tales" and by Bram Stoker, "Dracula." Nevertheless, it is especially
fascinating the transformation between these typecasts. The author can establish
ambiguity and tension within a plot by allowing female figures to break free of
stereotypic constraints. The "predator" and the "victim" have two central female roles in
Gothic literature. The first one is dangerous but powerful; it helps represent the paradox
of pain/pleasure, which is now associated with Gothic literature. The latter is weak and
delicate, giving the heroes all to save and is usually rewarded for their brave actions
(Więckowska, 2012).
Gothic literature is an essential cornerstone of the movements of feminism and gender
equality that now exist; the literature has always been the medium of opinion (even in
times of dangerous overt protests) and the Gothic is no exception. Gothic literature thus
reflects the culture that has formed its foundation, and researching the roles of gender as
defined in novels makes it possible for gender roles to be understood in Gothic culture –
more importantly still, the novels of the time provide the foundation of the changes that
marked the period (Gould, 2010). In their predominantly male opponents who were
warring against young heroines, the Gothic writers reflected on the old patriarchy and
called for a new kind of patriarchy to rid women of the at times brutal injustice that they
faced under obsolete conceptions of the sexual role. The heroines of the Gothic are the
incarnations of a new generation of women who have acquired education and rights,
albeit under the protection of fathers and husbands. They have gone beyond their
conventional spheres.
It is not accurate to judge the theme based on genderism. Not every writer sees the
world that way and some have a different outlook towards the same. Angela Carter was
gifted with an incredibly vivid and exceptionally Dark imagination, like any great author
of Gothic literature. Gothic imagery is all over her work, but none of that has been more
significant than the 1979 Bloody Chamber; a series of stories that enjoy the luminous
forest, tombs, castles, locked rooms, burning candles and wolf-clapping at night. Carter
particularly discussed fairy tales in what was largely a patriarchal society as a framework
for questioning contemporary attitudes to women and genders. Angela Carter was
perhaps unexpectedly influenced by works by the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), and in

particular, the novels Justine (1791) and Juliette (1797), who also influenced The Bloody
Chamber. In the first, a virtuous woman is constantly exploited by men and eventually
dies in shame, whereas an amoral nymphomaniac, by abusing her sexuality, gains
immense power, wealth and happiness. Carter has discovered de Sade's erotic illusions
that passivity in a heroine is not merely unwanted, it can also lead to her death. Sparkling
women could turn tables on their lascivious admirers and defeat them during their own
game in the meantime.
After all, sex is always cooled off with abuse, aggression, and assassination in 'The
Bloody Chamber.' At one point the protagonist, unidentified, look in a dozen mirrors at
her reflection as her husband lost his virginity:
A dozen husbands impaled a dozen brides while the mewing gulls swung on invisible
trapezes in the empty air outside (Carter, 2015).
The Marquis is a template of the Gothic narrative patriarchal character, a model of
brutality, abnormality, and excess. In comparison, Jean-Yves, in his work as a young
piano tuner, represents human goodness and compassion. The narrator knows clearly that
Jean-Yves is deserving of his trust in contrast to the Marquis' dishonest nature:
“My lover kissed me, he took my hand. He would come with me if I would lead him.”
(Carter, 2015)
The histories at The Bloody Chamber are often based on fairy tales, but the old and
loved tales Carter gave a radical twist to the histories of women who were young, demure
and vulnerable or sick, haggard, and witch-like. Many of these tales derived from folklore
and legend. Fairy and Gothic myths are closely tied together and the basis of fairy tales in
folklore offers a traditional structure on which to discuss modern fears.
Conclusion
In Carter's narratives, stereotypical genre identities from traditional fairy tales
frequently arise, question and abandon: authoritarian, two-dimensional identities that
dictate that women must be weak and submissive and that men should be strong and
dominant. Carter has drawn up highly symbolic stories using a gothic medium of excess
and possibility which undermines the conventional archaic ideology of fairy tales and
uses original modern meanings from one of the oldest literary types. It is common for
gothic themes to use masculinity and feminity as a basis. The concept is rather
generalized for women being fragile and men being strong but this should not be the case
and Angela Carter has proven the same with her works.

References
Carter, A. (2015). The bloody chamber and other stories: And Other Stories: 75th
Anniversary. [Place of publication not identified]: Penguin Group USA.
Gould, D. (2010). Gothic Representations: History, Literature, and Film (pp. 8-84).
Governors State University. Retrieved from https://opus.govst.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1103&context=theses
Więckowska, K. (2012). The Gothic: Studies in History, Identity and Space (1st ed.,
pp. 107-117). Inter-Disciplinary Press.
 Like any genre that lasts a long time – romance, mystery, science fiction – there is
usually an evolution within the genre. In terms of the Gothic genre,
readers/viewers must be scared by different things in the 1830s of Poe and the
2010s of The Babadook – or are they?
Essay question 3: How has the Gothic genre evolved since its early appearance in the
stories of Poe?