To what extent are the Withered arm and Leixlip castle Gothic or Romantic?

The traits of both gothic and romantic tales are very similar. However, in a gothic story these traits tend to be far more extreme and have a frightening element to them. Charles Maturin begins his story, Leixlip Castle by telling us that it is all based upon facts about his family, they are facts themselves, which occurred at no very distinct period in my own family. This increases the validity and allows the readers to suspend their disbelief. In this way, gothic tales closely relate to modern horror stories. The writer uses the word fact, again emphasising the truth in his words and amplifying the terror of the reader. The Withered Arm has the familiar gothic theme of decay. In this particular story it is both physical and moral decay. The reader witnesses the 'decay' of Gertrudes soul. Gertrude was, in the beginning of the story, a generous and compassionate person. She liked to do charity work and befriended Rhoda and her son. Later in the story we see the corruption of Gertrudes values. She is wishing for someone to die, even an innocent person, O Lord hang some guilty or innocent person. This clearly shows moral decay, she not only desires for someone to die due to her vanity, but also uses blasphemy thus showing her decreasing faith and values. This is reflected in the physical decay of Gertrudes arm, but the arm at that point had a shrivelled lookthis gives the image of disfigurement; similarly Gertrudes soul is disfigured and corrupted due to her insecurities. There are numerous occasions in the story where we see Gertrudes vanity. In Charles Maturins Lexlip Castle, the reader witnesses the physical decay of Jane Blaney,shrunk to half her usual size, and covered with rags, crouching over the embers of the fire... This is similar to the decay seen in The Withered Arm. This also shows another gothic trait, sense over intellect. The image of Jane Blaney was a vision one of the servants claims to have seen. The servant trusts her feelings and what she thinks she saw, not a logical explanation for what has happened. The writers language increases the terror and mystery of the witnessing of the young girl, he uses the words shrunk and crouching giving the reader the image of a deterioration and wasting away image of a child. Similarly, in 'The Withered Arm' Rhoda Brook has a vision, that was not a dream-she was here, when Rhoda wakes up after her dream she thinks it is real. This is another example of an emotional, rather than, rational response. Instead of being logical about the situation she instantly thinks it is something supernatural. Later on in the story Rhoda starts to consider whether she, herself, is something supernatural or possesses some supernatural power. The language here emphasises her irrational thoughts when she wakes, she does not hesitate, Rhoda automatically believes that what she has dreamt is real and not a figment of her imagination. This is illogical; she rejects intellect, another common trait of gothic tales. There is also intertextuality between Rhodas vision and Henry Fuselis painting, the nightmare. was sitting upon her chest as she lay. The pressure of Mrs Lodges person grew heavier; the blue eyes peered cruelly into her face. This description of Rhodas vision is very similar to Fuselis painting which shows a woman sleeping in her chamber and a demon sitting upon her chest, just like in Rhodas vision. Henry Fuseli is a gothic artist; both Rhodas vision and Fuselis The Nightmare explore the gothic themes of the subconscious mind and female sexuality. Rhodas sexual jealousy and her dreams become reality. In The Nightmare, the suggestive pose of the sleeping woman is reinforced by the other images in the bed chamber. Both Fuseli and Hardy explore the power of dreams common in many romantic stories. In both gothic and romantic stories, the story is set in a rural environment. This is because being away from human corruption, makes one feel closer to God. In this story Rhoda and her son both live away from the rest of the town, 'They crept up the hill in the twilight and entered

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the cottage. It was built of mud-wall, the surface of which had been washed by many rains into channels of depressionsthatch above a rafter showed a bone protruding through the skin. They are isolated away from the rest of the town and they are on a hill, higher up therefore closer to God. However, nature is not idealised here. The description of their home is not idyllic, the nature is described negatively. The image of the house is frightening, the writer personifies the house depicting it as someone who is not getting enough nutrition and is severely underweight and emaciated that their bones would be visible through their skin. In Maturins story the description of Leixlip Castle at first seems romantic, the scene burst[s] out in all the brilliancy of light, washes the garden steps of the housethe pleasure-boat moored under the arches The castle is also described as picturesque. These descriptions of the castle are extremely romantic, there are images of absolute perfection. This gives the idea of the Golden Age a time that is considered to be a time better than present, a time of perfection and peace. Then this description changes into something far more gothic, times when blood was shed like water; and as you pass the bridge you catch a glimpse of the waterfall this description of the castle gives us the image of a far more medieval and ancient appearance to the castle. This increases the fear of the reader by contrasting the perfect and peaceful setting to the dark and obscure setting of the story. In The Withered Arm, Thomas Hardys diction, have gothic elements to them,...by a horrid sort of spell. The sense of having been guilty of an act of malignity increased, affect she might have to ridicule her superstition... Rhoda did not altogether object to a slight diminution of her successors beauty The writer uses a semantic field here, showing the focus on folk beliefs, another characteristic of a gothic tale. Here Rhoda is focusing on medieval ideas, she believes she is evil in some way and that she, by some supernatural power, has inflicted harm upon Gertrude, she is focusing on folk beliefs. In Leixlip Castle the servants are incredibly superstitious, therefore a strong belief in old folk tales, Anne living in solitudewas left very much to the servants, among whom she increased her taste for superstitious and supernatural horrors, to a degree that had a most disastrous effect on her future life clearly this shows how focused Anne was on all these superstitions and medieval beliefs, so much so it affects her later on in life. And again gives the indication that this is sense over reason, to believe in superstitious folk tales. The writer has created suspense here as by telling the reader she is affected greatly later on in life leaves the reader to wonder and gives the sense of impending doom. Jane Blaneys story, in Leixlip Castle, focuses on medieval beliefs, Jane encounters an old witch- like woman Old woman, in the Fingallian dress, suddenly started out of a thicket, and took Jane Blaney by the arm this old woman is described as a witch, this is a rustic stereotype of the witch, the image of the witch is of her in an old shabby dress and she is described as an old haggard woman. This shows the belief in medieval ideas, such as witchcraft, and folk beliefs. The reader again witnesses the closeness to nature as the mysterious women comes out the thicket and drags Jane with her into nature creating a gothic feel. In The Withered Arm there is also a focus on a supernatural character, Conjuror Trendle. Trendle-yes is he alive? I believe so. Here Rhoda and Gertrude are talking about Conjuror Trendle and the reader perceives him as something supernatural and mystical, Rhoda isnt sure if he is still alive, this makes him mysterious. Conjuror Trendle is a rustic character; he lives out in nature away from anyone else. You see him close to nature again when Gertrude visits him for a second time, he was not indoorsshe went where his bent figure was pointed out to her at work a long way off. Conjuror Trendle is outside in nature and bent over making him even closer to nature. Similar to the witch in Leixlip Castel Trendal is also a rustic stereotype.

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There is then a strong belief in the occult in Leixlip castle. In the story of the third sister, Anne, she encounters the withered crone who convinces her to perform a ritual of some description. This has devastating effects on Annes life. Anne believes in this witchcraft but as Anne grew older she began more seriously to incline to the hags promises that she could show her, her future bridegroom, on the performance of certain ceremonies... here Anne decides to go through with these ceremonies, as she so strongly believes that they will show here her future husband, this is the belief in the occult a common feature in a gothic tales. In The Withered Arm Gertrude becomes obsessed with finding a cure for her ailment, so at first she uses medical or scientific recourses to help her with bottles, packets and ointments-pots of every description, she then rejects science and turns to something more mythical, bunches of mystic herbs, charms and books of necromancy this is rejection of rationalisation and the focus on the occult, these are both frequent traits of gothic literature. Both The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy and Leixlip Castle by Charles Maturin are gothic tales. They both have many gothic traits, such as being isolated and close to nature, the rejection of intellect and a focus on the supernatural. They are also both romantic in some aspects, however, these romantic aspects all have frightening elements to them.

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