Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

August 16, 2015

What Lurks in Nightmares

The Beginning of Gothic Literature

When Mary Shelley first wrote Frankenstein, she’d little idea that her frightening and epic work had unleashed something far more powerful from the unspoken Pandora’s Box of literature: men could now play God in their stories, craft monsters and demons with pen, paper, ink, and words. There was this trepidation and hesitance that authors possessed before, only giving characters the idea to look for divine inspiration or hellish temptation. Yet now, after this woman had fearlessly taken the plunge into the forbidden unknown and made a human on par with the highest heavens, men could now wonder and write what it was like to be both mortal and omnipotent caught in a purgatory of sin, suffering, damnation, and redemption.

However, bearing the ability to make flesh into something new did not make Frankenstein above his human nature; when the consequences of his mad actions gripped his shoulders with a righteous hand of punishment, he fled like a coward. Make no mistake, the Gothic genre is filled with specters of guilt, grace, and feverish madness that lead to many creative and baleful tales, but this story had started them all by exposing the flawed nature of man.

Though as interesting as this Frankenstein’s tale might be, it is not on the same level of today’s modernized Gothic genre. One of the most prominent examples of this comes in the form of a beloved hero known as Batman. Arguably the most easily recognizable Gothic hero, Batman is a story rife with tragic events and dark undertones. The hero himself is a brooding figure meant to embody mystery and the eerie quality of the dramatic tone of the story. Everything from the comic’s art to the plot champions the necessary elements of the Gothic genre: the modernized yet haunting city of Gotham (which is, admittedly, aptly named) filled with towering buildings that loom and suffocate the light; the bizarre and monstrous villains that are superhuman and sometimes even supernatural in their origin, all of whom would like nothing more than to spread chaos or their sphere of power and consume the city -much like how evil incarnate is often portrayed as an all-devouring force in it’s purest form; countless heroines and damsels populate this world, each one acting as either an alluring temptress or a devoted love interest whom wishes to break past the hero’s hardened heart; and the story itself is centered on the emotions and kaleidoscope conscience of the main hero.

The prevailing composition of the world is founded on the dreary and sublime, and the turning point of Batman’s whole development (the murder of his parents) is set upon him like a curse. It plagues him and haunts his dreams, eventually giving him the drive to become the caped crusader that is needed by the city. Each night he searches out and pursues the many faces of corruption and crime, but ends up being sent after horrors that masquerade as men. 

This is one of the most integral parts of both Frankenstein and the Batman series. There may be evil lurking in the shadows of our nightmares, but it is nothing compared to what we can create with our own hands. The protagonist of this novel had chosen to play with the natural order, and thus, could not fathom the outcome. At the moment of his greatest triumph, he had also given birth to his ultimate undoing. Likewise Batman had chosen to find and eliminate evil, only to bring even more destructive forces to light, most of which started out as lost souls searching for a way to correct or justify their situations.