Castle of Otranto -- Questions response by 8/25/10

1. The last paragraph of Chapter One is one clear example of the the author's attempt to create a rich, not shallow or one-sided, character out of Manfred. Is he successful?  Why does the author bother to develop Manfred's character and show conflicting sides of his inner struggle?
2. One element of the Gothic story is its use of the superstitious versus religion. Does this story show a conflict between the Christian faith and superstitious beliefs. Does the story's message, up until the end of Chapter 2, seem to favor or confirm one perspective over another?

WELCOME

Welcome fellow students to Dr. Gerard's "Exploring the Gothic" blog. As part of my graduate student experience, I will be posting questions and observations each Thursday before the the reading assignment due for the next Wednesday. Each will engage a different topic. Possibilities include a specific interpretative style (formalist, structuralist, or feminist) or thoughts from the categories listed on the Gothic Devices handout provided to you by Dr. Gerard. (You may also find this handout as a blog page entitled "Devices of the Gothic" in the right-hand margin.)


As part of your experience, you will be responding in a thoughtful manner once a week to the posts. You may choose to agree or disagree with the point that I have made (I expect different, even conflicting ideas to arise.), add additional insight, or ask questions. You may not respond with a mere agreement or disagreement. You must express WHY you agree or disagree. The point is to think about the topic, reply to the post, and read your classmates posts in order to gain deeper understanding of the texts and supplements. This will inevitably help you come up with ideas for paper topics and give you experience examining texts and writing critically, which will help you on your tests.


Please keep posts free from name-calling or harassment of others or your post will be deleted and credit will not be given for your contribution.


IMPORTANT: Since this is an open forum, please make sure that your name, as it appears on the class roster, is connected to each of your posts. You do this with the drop down menu under the "Post Comment" box. Choose the Name/URL option. You can leave the URL blank, but type in your full name with each post. (This is if you are not signed into Blogger with your Google account.) Without a name, you can not be given credit for your posts.