Art of Gothic Review

As a way to learn more about the Gothic literature, art and architecture I watched BBC's The Art of Gothic, this programme took you through the Victorian era and depicted the main fears and anxieties of the Victorian era and how people have interpreted this into literature art ect. This programme also states the beginning of gothic, the restoration of gothic and also how gothic can still be interpreted in modern society. This programme helped me truly understand the motifs that are present in gothic literature for example 'the sublime' I found his definition of the gothic as 'a grope towards a new sense of self, the conscious and unconscious mind, they had began to express terrors of revolution, or of a world where god isn't present and also sexual transgressions.' This has a real relevance to some of the themes in my novel. The thing I found the most interesting was looking at the gothic architecture, and also his explanations of gothic paintings, as they are something that I wouldn't be able to understand just by looking at it myself, however it was very hard to stay engaged throughout the whole programme as it is very long and in my personal opinion not always as relevant to my subject as I would have liked it to be but overall the programme has greatly broadened my understanding of the gothic.

• The Art of Gothic: Britain’s Midnight Hour, 2014 [TV] BBC 4. 6^th Nov