“THE UNDYING HABIT OF FEAR”: THE PRESENCE OF THE GOTHIC IN GEORGE ELIOT’S NOVEL ROMOLA

Abstract

This paper proposes an analysis of George Eliot’s 1862 novel Romola so as to demonstrate that it makes use of gothic conventions. We argue that there are several elements in Eliot’s fourth novel that could be read from the perspective of gothic studies, such as language, setting, symbols, imagery and character representation. We focus our analysis on two of these elements. We look first at the imagery which appears in some crucial moments of the narrative to observe how a web of gothic images emerges in these moments. After that, we look at the characterisation of Romola in order to identify traits that are common in gothic heroines. We rely mainly on the studies of Mahawatte (2013) for our understanding of how the gothic appears in Eliot’s novel and on the research of Garrett (1969), who identifies in Eliot’s novel an innovative use of scenes and symbols. In the end, we hope to demonstrate how the gothic emerges in certain moments of the narrative and shapes some of the protagonist's characterisation as well as her relationship with fear and anxiety.