Gothic literature, as we know, depicts the uncanny or illogical. It shows us things in an eerie way. According to Sigmund Freud, we all experience this uncanny feeling in relation to death. He brings out that the fear of the dead or death is an experience that we have had from the beginning of civilization. Freud attributes this feeling to our insufficient scientific knowledge about death and the strength of our original emotions in regard to death. This reluctance to accept our state of mortality accounts for the ease in summoning such emotions at the slightest provocation. Gothic literature, he claims, can meld with our intolerable view of death by portraying things in fiction as they would be if they occurred in real life, thus it would coincide with realties of which we are familiar. It could also stray completely from the realities of life, but must stay that way in order to be successful in conjuring some emotional response. Gothic literature, thus, feeds on our fear to make us believe in a world that does not exist.
According to Sigmund Freud, we all experience uncanny feelings in relation to death and Frankenstein was no exception. Frankenstein is a scientist and one of the main characters in the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. In this book he creates a living creature out of the body parts of dead individuals. His response, or comments, in relation to these body parts as well as his project shows his obsession with/fear of the dead. It says “I collected bones from charnel houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell… I kept my workshop of filthy creation: my eye-balls were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughterhouse furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion… I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips…” This excerpt shows the mixed emotions with which Frankenstein viewed the dead. He loathed the body parts while at the same time adoring them. He recognized them as beautiful because they were once parts of the beautiful and intricate human form, but they were now lifeless so they were at once also ugly. This signified the ever-going struggle with the acceptance of mortality.
