A Study Of Narrative Style In The Castle Of Otranto From The Gothic Perspective

The Castle of Otranto is a novella written by English novelist Horace Walpole in1764.It has become the first Gothic story in the world since the author adds a subtitle“A Gothic Story” to the title.The novella is a story about a noble family.The thesis bases on the Classical narrative theory in Western Narratology:Classical and Postclassical,explores the Gothic narrative style in Otranto.The author argues that the Gothic narrative style in Otranto is reflected in plot structure,characterization,narrative time,narrative space,and narrative voice,but not reflected in narrative view and characters' discourse.For that matter,the author attempts to analyze the Gothic narrative style in the novella,points out the inadequacy of the text in displaying Gothic narrative style,and explores Gothic features by applying narrative theories.The thesis is divided into seven parts.The first chapter is introduction,including the background information,purpose,significance,innovation,theoretical framework and the structure of the thesis.The background information briefly introduces the author Horace Walpole and Otranto,the origin and the development of Gothic literature.Chapter two is literature reviews of narratology,Gothic literature,the author Horace Walpole and Otranto.The third chapter studies the plot structure of Otranto,summarizes the features of Gothic plot of the story,including the tragic plot,the functions of the characters,and the opposite relationship between the characters.Chapter four discusses the Gothic characterizations of the story,dividing the characters into characters of functions and characters of psychology.Chapter five analyzes the Gothic features by using the theories of narrative time and narrative space,including the order,duration and frequency of narrative time theory,and the narrative space of gloomy atmosphere in reality,and the religious mysterious social space.Chapter six studies Gothic narrative voice and narrative themes,including the ubiquitous voice of horror,voice of submission and of wisdom in the story.There are three typical Gothic themes in the story: The Contrast Between Good and Evil,Forbidden Love,Fighting for the Throne.Chapter seven concludes the narrative mode of Gothic stories,finding out the Gothic narrative style of this genre.This chapter also concludes the findings and limitations of the research.Narrative theorie are extensive and profound.The thesis only analyzes a Gothictext by a fraction of narrative theories,attempts to interpret a Gothic fiction from an angle.