Among these worries was the idea that, if humans could evolve, humans must also be capable of devolving. Each text interacts with the fear of backwards evolution - with varying degrees of subtlety - in order to create truly terrifying narratives.Īfter Darwin published his Theory of Evolution in 1859, Victorians became increasingly pre-occupied with its implications. This can be identified within three prominent Victorian texts: Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue,’ Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. One such anxiety was that of regressive evolution. Instead, Gothic authors exploited common societal anxieties to produce terror within readers. As this article will explore, Gothic literature within the Victorian era did not simply produce fear through ghouls or vampires. Referring to the period of time under Queen Victoria’s reign, this era spanned many decades and lasted from 1837 to 1901. Just as today’s readership is infatuated with the dystopian genre and its tendency to exploit current political anxieties the Gothic genre served a similar function for those in the Victorian era. ![]() ![]() 1 Though this genre has been reimagined throughout the centuries, Victorian England and America were both particularly enamoured with the Gothic landscape. In fact, the Gothic novel is considered to have been the first pop-culture phenomenon of the Western world. Gothic Fiction and the ‘Regressive Evolution’ AnxietyĬharacterised by gloomy castles at midnight, dastardly villains, and shrieking heroines the Gothic genre is recognisable and collectively loved by readers.
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