Extra Point: David Punter - The Gothic

 The lecture about the Gothic by Professor David Punter helped me understand the specifics of the genre and find similarities between stories that seemed completely different before. While explaining the theme Professor Punter discusses various books from the very first books written in the 1780s and 90s to more recent ones. Some of these books interested me due to this lecture, for example, The Castle of Otranto and The Monk. It was not very clear to me what the concept of sublime is but the phrase “the world is far more powerful than you” helped me understand the feeling behind it. I enjoyed learning about the reasons why people watch or read horror stories. One of the reasons brought by Professor Punter surprised me as he claims that watching something frightful may help people feel less frightened in the outside world as I usually noticed that after watching horror movies people become more scared of for instance, similar places they saw in the movie. It was easier to understand “Frankenstein” and the structure of the novel after this lecture. For example, the novel also proves that death is not permanent by bringing the creature to life. Another example is that life can transform into a curse and death into blessing as Dr. Frankenstein's life is turned into a nightmare by his own creature. It is hard to differentiate good from evil in Gothic novels. The concept of making justice without being unjust and getting revenge without transforming into the very thing one wants to destroy is also an essential part of the Gothic literature.

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