American Gothic I: Wieland
Gothic is a plastic, overused word, and I don’t understand what it means because it doesn’t feel like it means anything
What does Gothic Mean?
Gothic is a plastic, overused word, and I don’t understand what it means because it doesn’t feel like it means anything. A building can be gothic, a person can be (presently or historically) G/gothic, clothes can be gothic, and fiction can be gothic. What the hell unifies all of these? When I saw a copy of American Gothic Tales (1996) edited by Joyce Carol Oates, I thought if I could read through some stories I might figure it out.
To try to define gothic, I’ve written a test definition. Gothic fiction includes:
dark physical settings
actions informed by evil motivations
Wieland
The first entry in American Gothic Tales is an excerpt from Wieland, of The Transformation, by Charles Brockden Brown. In this chapter, the main character, Wieland, is defending his actions to a jury. He murdered his wife and child.
He says, “…here I am arraigned as a criminal. I am charged with diabolical malice; I am accused of the murder of my wife and my children!
“It is true, they were slain by me; they all perished by my hand. The task of vindication is ignoble. What is it that I am called to vindicate? and before whom?”
He then goes on to describe what happened. Remember, although I don’t believe spoilers actually exist, if you want to know what happened by reading the excerpt yourself, go find a copy and read it before continuing.
He kills his family because something—he believes an angel, but maybe it was a demon, or a hallucination—told him that if he didn’t, it would be proof that he doesn’t love God.
“The darkness required some caution in descending the stair. I stretched my hand to seize the balustrade by which I might regulate my steps. How shall I describe the lustre, at that moment, burst upon my vision?”
We’ve got our dark setting, but there’s more to what happens than that: The thing that speaks to him is luminous. “It was the element of heaven that flowed around. Nothing but a fiery stream was at first visible…” Wieland testifies.
Revised Definition
Wieland equates the thing’s brightness with its holiness, which helps me refine point 1 above:
dark physical settings with contrasting elements of light
Additionally, throughout the passage are deep themes of Christianity. In Wieland’s preamble to his account of the murders, he says, “It is needless to say that God is the object of my supreme passion. I have cherished, in his presence, a single and upright heart.”
Wieland considers himself pious. In fact, he cites his piety as the sole reason for murdering two people.
Maybe we can tighten our definition of Gothic a little more:
2. darks actions of its characters, that is, actions are informed by religious motivations
But we can get even more specific. The character sees nothing wrong with what he did, which creates a disturbing effect for the reader: your version of reality and morality is (I hope) starkly different than Wieland’s. He doesn’t think what he did was wrong. I was unavailable when Moses went to on Mt Sinai, but I am reasonably certain one thing Moses said God said was, “thou shall not kill.”
So let’s be even more specific:
2. …hypocritical religious motivations
So here’s our working definition of gothic:
dark physical settings with contrasting elements of light
darks actions of its characters, that is, actions are informed by hypocritical religious motivations
We’ll see if this definition holds up after the next story: “The Man of Adamant.”
If you’d like to read along with me, please find a copy of American Gothic Tales. It’s terrific. Here it is on thriftbooks. I’m willing to bet your library has a copy, too.