The enlightenment period Flashcards
(7 cards)
What was the enlightenment period?
The Enlightenment (late 17th–18th century) emphasized reason, science, individualism, and progress. It rejected superstition and the supernatural, promoting rational thought over tradition.
How does Gothic literature respond to the Enlightenment?
Gothic fiction often reacts against Enlightenment rationalism by exploring what reason cannot explain—emotion, madness, the supernatural, and the unconscious.
Give a critic quote on the Gothic as a reaction to the Enlightenment.
David Punter: “The Gothic is a literature of resistance to Enlightenment ideals of order and reason.”
How does Gothic setting reflect Enlightenment tensions?
Gothic settings often oppose Enlightenment ideals of clarity and order: dark castles, forests, ruins = the irrational and emotional past encroaching on the rational present.
How does the Enlightenment link to the theme of forbidden knowledge in Gothic fiction?
Gothic characters often push Enlightenment ideals too far—seeking knowledge or power beyond moral or natural limits, leading to destruction.
Why did the enlightenment want to control human nature?
Enlightenment thinkers saw emotion and instinct as dangerous or irrational forces that needed to be controlled by reason.
By applying logic, they thought humanity could overcome ignorance, fear, and violence.
What does the Gothic suggest about the Enlightenment’s failure to control human nature?
Gothic literature pushes back by suggesting that human nature is not entirely rational or controllable our darker impulses, fears, and desires always return, often in monstrous or uncanny forms.
