The Evolution of British and Irish Gothic Drama from the Late Eighteenth to the Early Twenty-First Centuries within a Socio-Political Context

Abstract

The Gothic emerged as a predominant genre from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. Though it primarily started with the novel, the Gothic also became a prominent and popular dramatic genre. Albeit popular over the years, especially in the 1820s and onwards, Gothic drama remained prevalent mostly through adaptations and translations. Despite the decline of Gothic drama during the Victorian Period, the Gothic as a genre never totally disappeared as its traces could be found in many later plays of the following centuries. And particularly in the twentieth century, the Gothic disseminated into other media such as cinema, music and fashion. In the 1960s, the political conflicts of the age contributed to the revival of the Gothic, especially in fiction. Besides, the era also saw the emergence of Gothic themes and motifs in many plays of this period. In this regard, this dissertation looks into the evolution of the Gothic in British and Irish drama from the late eighteenth to the early twenty-first centuries focusing on the playwrights’ utilisation of the Gothic in relation to the socio-political background of the period the plays were written in, and manifests that Gothic drama still exists and thrives on the contemporary stage. In Chapter I, the late eighteenth-century Gothic is discussed with reference to the shifting class and gender dynamics in the society through Joanna Baillie’s De Monfort (1798). Chapter II focuses on the early nineteenth-century Gothic and the Byronic hero as a disillusioned representative of his age through Lord George Gordon Byron’s Manfred (1817). Snoo Wilson’s Vampire (1973), in Chapter III, addresses and criticises the ongoing socio-political oppression through the vampire motif within the context of the 1960s and 1970s. Finally, in Chapter IV, a zombified portrayal of early twenty-first-century Ireland addressing postcolonial traumas in the aftermath of a dramatic economic crisis is explored in Conor McPherson’s The Veil (2011). In conclusion, by discussing the peculiar features of the Gothic in every age, this dissertation investigates the evolution of Gothic drama.