The Gothic: Hounds of the Baskerville (ACD) and Picture of Dorian Gray (OW)

Gothic texts dismantle accepted certainties and orthodoxies leaving the reader to feel terrified. Do Picture of Dorian Gray and Hound of the Baskervilles fit this ideal to 'dismantle' and 'terrify'?

A gothic text is defined as a text that combines elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and very high emotion. Both Conan-Doyle’s tour de force novel and Oscar Wilde’s fin de siècle novel, I feel demonstrate some, if not all, of these traits as they dismantle accepted certainties, as Doyle himself stated, 'it seems to leave the darkness rather blacker than before'. Hound of the Baskervilles is noted for being Conan Doyle's most terrifying novel, while Picture of Dorian Gray was highly criticized and met with repugnance due to the themes explored within. In terms of the question, I feel both novels, although not unanimously considered classic examples of the gothic genre upon first publication, that in their ability to ‘dismantle accepted certainties’, they are indeed rendered terrifying. However, in the end, both authors seemingly conform to traditional orthodoxies whereby the two main 'antagonists' are punished spectacularly, and their ruin is complete.

Firstly, in Picture of Dorian Gray the most terrifying moment is when Dorian kills Basil, 'He rushed at him, and dug the knife into the great vein that is behind the ear, crushing the man's head down on the table, and stabbing again and again.' This terrifies the reader because up to this point we have retained an infinitesimal degree of faith in Dorian that he will change his ways, but this key moment in the novel tells us he is not capable of change and is deteriorating as much as his portrait is. Herein, the novel fulfils the gothic convention of having a truly terrifying murder or death scene. The use of the aggressive verbs, 'rushed', 'dug'5 and 'crushing' are all very harsh and violent, reflecting the horror of the crime and the deep violence within Dorian's personality. In the first chapter of the novel, it is shown that Basil has an intense like for Dorian and vice versa, but he also states to Lord Henry, reflecting on his first meeting with Dorian, "Something seemed to tell me I was on the verge of a terrible crisis in my life." This proleptic statement foreshadows to the reader that Basil will meet with nothing but impending doom after meeting our questionable protagonist. Ultimately this dismantles certainties we have that Dorian will be a traditional protagonist because even in the first chapter we are told that this man will have a terrible impact on Basil's life.

Likewise, in Hound of the Baskervilles, the most terrifying moment happens in the climactic chapter, chapter fourteen, when we are given the first description of the hound from Watson's perspective. Structurally, the reader has been made to wait until chapter 14 for a very harrowing description, this allows our imagination to run wild during the previous chapters of the novel in picturing what the hound looks like, and allows Conan-Doyle to build tension, a key element for all gothic texts; 'A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound... fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare...'. Watson then describes the hound to, 'spring upon its victim, hurl him to the ground, and worry at his throat'. Fearing for Sir Henry's life and the sheer force of this 'beast', the reader becomes terrified at what may happen to not only Sir Henry but our protagonist’s lives as well. The use of the language aims to render readers terrified via the visceral hyperbole of 'enormous coal-black hound' through to the aggressive terms of 'hurl' and 'worry at his throat'. Conan- Doyle’s use of the semantic field of fire also further portrays the hound as a terrifying beast with a likeness to the monstrosity of a dragon. This dismantles certainties because Holmes has made it distinctively clear that the hound can not be of supernatural origins, yet it is described as a beast closely resembling that of a mythical beast. Leading us to question Holmes and what the hound really is, terrifying the reader further about the development of the chapter.

In Hound of the Baskervilles, the reader sees all through the homodiegetic narration of Dr Watson. The novel is structured in this fashion so that when Holmes tells Watson something, it is revealed to us for the first time too. The Stapleton's are at the heart of dismantled certainties, firstly when Holmes delivers the line "The lady who has passed here as Miss Stapleton is, in reality, his wife". Watson's response of, "Good Heavens, Holmes!", is that of the reader’s too, because what we have been aware of thus far is that she is his sister, leading to the discovery of Stapleton's affair with Laura Lyons. In Victorian England, it wasn’t uncommon for husbands to participate in extra-marital affairs; wives endured such infidelity as divorce was considered to be a social taboo. Consequently, when this novel was published, many women would have sympathized with Mrs Stapleton for having to be wed to a brute like Jack. Secondly, Jack allows Sir Henry to propose to his wife because inevitably, 'Sir Henry's falling in love could do no harm to anyone but Sir Henry'16. Bit by bit our impression of Jack Stapleton is shattered leading up to Holme's devastating conclusion that, 'It is murder Watson- refined, cold-blooded, deliberate murder'. Finally, it is the discovery of Sir Hugo Baskerville's portrait later on that our perception of Stapleton is dismantled forever and as Watson quotes, 'In that impassive, colourless man, with his straw hat and his butterfly-net, I seemed to see something terrible—a creature of infinite patience and craft, with a smiling face and a murderous heart.' Leaving us to feel terrified at the harrowing climactic denouement, and wonder whether we can trust our own eyes and judgement.

In Picture of Dorian Gray the most obvious moment that dismantles our certainties is after he leaves Sibyl Vane 'crouched on the floor like a wounded thing', after proclaiming, 'without your art you are nothing.' and that she has, 'disappointed’ him. When Dorian goes home and inspects the portrait he notices 'the expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth'. This is the first time the portrait changes and from this point onwards it continues to change and deteriorate as Dorian ages and sins. Any certainties we had of reality and of Dorian are completely lost when this happens, leading to a sense of wonder and fear at what could possibly happen next. When Dorian speaks to Sibyl he uses very harsh words, 'you are nothing' and 'disappointed me'. Dorian talks to her in a deplorably denigrating way and acts as though she owes him her talent, leading the reader to understand the 'cruelty in the mouth'. With reference to the question, this unexpected supernatural theme dismantles the reader’s certainties about Dorian and therein terrifying.

However, ultimately Wilde conforms to a traditional orthodoxy that the evil is punished by the end of the novel. Dorian tries to destroy the painting and by doing so, 'kill the past'. However, as he 'stabbed the picture' the only person he hurt was himself. 'Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled and loathsome of visage.' Dorian has brought about his own downfall, from the moment he first proclaimed that to be young forever 'I would give my soul for that!', and during all of the terrible events that transpired that cause him, eventually, to avoid the portrait so as not to see his sins personified. Dorian falls susceptible to his own hamartia, his vanity, and can be described as a modern-day Narcissus. The fact that Dorian is punished reinforces accepted certainties and orthodoxies that the immoral are ultimately punished.

Conan-Doyle likewise conforms to this orthodoxy. When Holmes and Watson discover Stapleton has made flight towards 'the great Grimpen mire' and never made it across, 'somewhere in the heart of the great Grimpen Mire, down in the foul slime of the huge morass which had sucked him in, this cold and cruel-hearted man is forever buried'. Stapleton has brought about his own downfall because he was so eager to get his hands on the Baskerville fortune. This also links to the portrait of Sir Hugo Baskerville that shared an incredible likeness with Stapleton. Holmes describes this as "an interesting instance of a throw-back, which appears to be both physical and spiritual". Sir Hugo Baskerville was described as ‘he seems a quiet, meek-mannered man enough, but I dare say that there was a lurking devil in his eyes’ a fitting description of Stapleton as we first see him, up to what we now know of him. Hugo Baskerville was punished for kidnapping an innocent girl, and now Stapleton is punished for the murder of Charles Baskerville and the attempted murder of Sir Henry, reinforcing the idea that the immoral are punished, thus conforming to the societal orthodoxy of punishment.

When the Picture of Dorian Gray was first published it received harsh criticism. Namely from The Daily Chronicle of London who called it, ‘unclean’, ‘poisonous’ and ‘heavy with the mephitic odours of moral and spiritual putrefaction’. However, although the novel does deal with immorality like Wilde noted, ‘the books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame’ and simply highlight the terror the novel was able to induce in people. The criticisms Wilde received only supported his point; people called his novel immoral because the book dealt with ideas of losing one’s sense of morality, which safe to say does happen in reality, and contextually in the late 19th century ‘a facade of sobriety, sternness and piety was adopted while turning a blind eye to the many evils that were rampant in Victorian England’.38 Immorality became a concept particularly hard to face by some people. The novel is not only a scary example of a gothic text but what makes it all the more terrifying is that it doesn't need the supernatural portrait to be just that. It is truly terrifying because it shows how easy it is to turn from morality and goodness, as Dorian did. The critics’ comments rest solely with the immorality of the novel but what they fail to realise is that Wilde’s immoral characters receive their just punishment, and ultimately reinforces a moral message that the wicked are punished.

In reference to Hound of the Baskervilles, ‘One critic noted that the references to ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ in this tale represent, as in previous stories, Holmes as the light of reason opposed to the darkness of both evil and ignorance’. This is an agreeable point due to a gothic tone being present throughout the book as most of the characters believe the hound to be supernatural. Due to this, they carry inadvertently, the ‘darkness’, which is reflected in the Gothic semantic field, representing both the immoral deeds of the novel and the ignorance of the people. When Holmes sweeps in as the voice of reason, the hound is revealed as being a normal dog; light has triumphed over darkness- reason over insanity. As well as this, the entirety of the novel aims to dismantle accepted orthodoxies with regards to the immorality of Victorian London. Hound of the Baskervilles is set in Devon, in the countryside where people are ought to feel safer. In this novel it is, on the contrary, Doyle makes the countryside setting feel like the most dangerous place to be, not only with a suspected supernatural beast but ‘Selden the escaped Nottingham murderer', Stapleton who is always hiding in the shadows and the Baskervilles estate shrouded in mystery. For a Victorian audience, this would have dismantled their beliefs in the country being safer than the city, leading them to feel more fearful.

In the end, both authors reinforce a moral message by punishing their antagonists. An antagonist is defined as: 'a person or a group of people who opposes a protagonist'. Stapleton is the antagonist because he stands in the way of Sherlock trying to solve the mystery and protect Sir Henry. Dorian is an unconventional antagonist because he also doubles as the protagonist, but is ultimately the one who brings about his own downfall, just like Stapleton. It must be noted, however, that since Stapleton and Dorian both die by the end of their novels there truly is nothing to fear. The fulfilment of their deaths aims to reinforce the message that in the world, no matter how long it takes, the immoral are punished in the end. If the evil is punished, then there is relatively nothing to fear and the authors conform to an orthodoxy of punishment and certainly triumph.