Friday, May 10, 2013

The Escape Artists in Gothic Literature


A prominent theme throughout British Literature in a good number of the works we’ve read this semester is escapism.  This theme is most openly recognized in Confessions of an Opium Eater, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but is also recognizable in a more indirect works like Lenora and The Lady of Shallot.  Pretty much every piece of literature from 1780 to present has some form of escapism even if not directly stated. 
One form of escapism is the most literal form depicted in The Importance of Being Ernest.  Jack and Algernon both come up with alternate personas as an escape from their realities; Jack goes to visit his brother Ernest in town and Algernon uses Bunbury to go to the country.  Both characters have dissatisfaction within the normality’s within their own lives and as a result come up with, as one blogger described, a “physical escape” responsibilities and obligations to be whoever they want to be.
Another example of an escape from reality is in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  For Carroll, Alice in Wonderland was an escape from reality for the readers of the time.  Because Carroll uses satire, imagery and figurative language to depict the serious issues going on within the government and in society.  In looking at the genre of nonsense literature as a whole, it was a way for authors of the time to “bash” what they didn’t agree with.  In the presentation that I did with my partner, we discovered this topic and what it meant to authors like Carroll to use escapism as means of social commentary.  We found that he uses personification and imaginative language and situations to delve into issues that concerned the people of England at the time. 
Another way to look at the escapism in Alice’s Adventures is the whimsical escape that it provides for the readers based on the nonsensical plot from just a fantastical point of view.  As Alice makes her way through Wonderland and it many worlds, learning its many lessons, the reader is able to venture with her and escape from our own realities.  This goes hand in hand with the perception that Alice is literally escaping from her sister and her own world to follow the white rabbit down the rabbit hole.  However, the deeper she dives into her fantasy reality, the deeper she delves into reality and the new sense of awareness that comes from experience.  This proves that maybe there is something to be learned from an escape from reality.
This concept is also similar in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Jekyll seems to delve deeper into his true desires and personas of himself through the escape of Mr. Hyde.  In a sense Jekyll is using Hyde, like Jack and Algernon in The Importance of Being Ernest, as a way to escape the realities of society and the responsibilities of life.  At the same time, he is also using it as a way to explore his deepest desires.  In a class discussion we talked about how Hyde is a representation of Jekyll’s repressed carnal desires and this form of escapism, for Jekyll is a way of exploring that side of his personality.  Obviously, due to societal expectations and social confines, this hidden desire has escapism written all over it. 
http://www.scarboroughvoice.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/The-Strange-Case-of-Dr-Jekyll-Mr-Hyde-image-682x1024.jpg
The most direct and brutally honest representation that we’ve read about escapism is in De Quincy’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater.  De Quincy explores what writers went through and why they took opium as a way to explore their creativity.  The drug itself and what it did for the artists can be seen as the ultimate form of escapism.  It was a way for the writers to delve into new worlds for the sake of their writing.  It is also a representation of what a frightening place letting one’s self escape into their wildest imaginations can be.  Opium is personified as a terrible and negative outlet into the darker places of imagination.  This can be seen as a representation of how the concept of escapism isn’t always a positive one.  Through the use of confusing medical terminology and long winded explanations, the reader can truly feel the frustration and terror almost (but not quite) as if they were experiencing it firsthand. 
A much more abstract form of escapism is it Burger’s Lenora in the way that she is disillusioned by her loved for the soldier.  When death comes to visit her, in the disguise of her love, she sees the whole ordeal as a means by which to escape with him off into the sunset.  However, she does not realize that she is so disillusioned by the idea of being consumed with affection that she is blinding and willingly escaping to her death.  Much like that which is explored in De Quincy’s thoughts about the terrors of escapism, Lenora is experiencing those same terrors until she finally disillusions herself to her biter demise.
Another abstract work read this semester is in the Lady of Shallot.  There are many subtle references to escapism hidden under all the feminism and social issues; the first of these being the mirror.  The Lady of Shallot is forever trapped in her tower, never able to even look down at the actual world around her but instead she is forced to only see the world through a mirror image.  The mirror is a representation of a world that she can never be a part of but so desperately wants to be. 
My final example of escape literature is in Cowper’s “The Negro’s Complaint.”  One blogger wrote about a bit of an identity crisis going on with the author and to me escapism and identity crises go hand in hand.  This all goes with an exploration of one’s self and doing so through the use of another persona.  By Cowper writing the piece through a slave’s perspective, he is taking a deeper look in what it would be like from that point of view.  As a writer, one is able to experience many more things that others do not as well as exploring different perspectives.  In this he is able to get his point across to the people and give them a new insight into what the enslaved peoples go through. 
These are among the many examples of escapism in places that are both clearly visible and well hidden.  It is clear that no matter whom you are and what your story is, the ability to get away from reality is a strong driving force.  So, no matter if you are using escape to get away from realities and responsibilities, a new means of self-exploration, or a means of perspective understanding, escapism is everywhere.  Everyone has something that they are running from or looking toward.  This is a theme that was prominent in the past, as well as one that still haunts us today.
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