欧文小说的哥特表现.doc

2.3 The characteristics of the gothic novel in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Ivring depicting a secluded village in the the legend of Sleepy Hollow mainly by the use of Gothic style. It had particular and fleshy plots which shows unexpected and vivid artistic feature, the atmosphere is full of horror, supernatural phenomenon filled with mysterious, which makes the work show a strong romantic and "Gothic" color.
2.3.1 Setting and environment
Gothic storys generally occurs in gloomy, horrible scenes such as wilderness, castles, great country manors or ancient buildings. The environment around the setting reflects a bleak or foreboding atmosphere: dark forests, imposing mountains, stormy weather or areas far away from civilisation. Ivring using a poetic style depicted a forgotten remoteness village.
“…there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world. A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquillity…”
—— Washington Ivring The Legend of Sleppy Hollow

2.3.3 Atmosphere
Mystery is usually one of the main characteristics gothic novels attempt to show. In The Legend of Sleppy Hollow, the village is not only forgotten, it seems to have a magic power, “…A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere…Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good peopl…” that everyone will infected with a blurred state after staying there for a while. “causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs; are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air…” Ivring has set a quiet mysterious atmosphere tone at the beginning of the novel, and it hanging over the whole novel

3.1 The Gothic Theme
Gothic novels have three themes:karma, love and revenge(MaoJinhua,2007:62). Firstly, The legend of Sleepy Hollow is a love story about Ichabod and Brom tried to beat each other’s time around Katrina.But also include Brom’svindictive acts to Ichabod. And last the karma for Ichabod’s greed and superstitious behavior.So we can say, three themes of Gothic Novels all embodied in in the legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Seemingly Ichabod fall in love with the beautiful and innocent rural girl, Katerina. …She was a booming lass of fresheighteen; plump as a partridge; ripe and melting and rosycheekedas one of her father’s peaches…

But on a moment's consideration, we can find, it is better to say Ichabod drool over Katrina’s wealth to be inherited instead of the girl herself. Ichahod Crane had a soft and foolish heart towards thesex; and it is not to be wondered at, that so tempting a morsel soon found favor in his eyes, more especially after he had visited her in her paternal mansion. When he went to Katrina’s home, his gaze was not drawn to her, but to her superior material conditions, room, fireplace and grains,
As the enraptured Ichabod fancied all this, and as he rolled his great green eyes over the fat meadow lands, the rich fields of wheat, of rye, of buckwheat, and Indian corn, and the orchards burdened with ruddy fruit, which surrounded the warm tenement of Van Tassel, his heart yearned after the damsel who was to inherit these domains, The best description of his absurd and ridiculours is that living poultries turned into steaming hot fine food in his eyes.
Later, the writer directly indicate Ichabod’s ture thought, From the moment Ichabod laid his eyes upon these regions of delight, the peace of his mind was at an end, and his only study was how to gain the affections of the peerless daughter of Van Tassel.
Perhaps we can evaluated Ichabod’s love as: he fell in love with Katrina’s wealth, then imagine himself fall in love with the heiress.

But Katrina has many pursuers, she is the dream lover of all rural young people in this village. When Ichabod’s love feelers take action they all harbor a grudge at him. In their view, how could Katrina marry Ichabod, the stranger, who have funny face, feudal superstition and covetous. Brom, the flower of youth, one of Katerina’s pursuers, is the contenders of Ichabod. When seeing Ichabod’s pursuit strategy worked, anxiety Brom disguised as the headless horseman frightened Ichabod away.
It seems that Ichabod was scared away by the ghost in his heart rather than the headless horseman disguised by Brom. He enjoy hearing ghost story though he is timid by nature, and he is positive to believe in the being of ghost. A gust of wind blew he thought he heard ghosts’ cry, to see the shadow of branches they thought he saw a ghost’s shadow. Brom is precisely using his superstitious scared him off.
3.3 The Gothic plot
Gothic novels often set time at night, in the deep night, represent the wind blowing across treetops with a shrill voice, soft clean moonlight shining through the branches to form a shadow on the ground and the conspiracy hidden in the night. Ivring using this technique in the novel eminently, he using thick and heavy in colours to depict the two times Ichabod walk at night on the mystery tone.
“every sound of nature, at that witching hour, fluttered his excited imagination, —the moan of the whip-poor-will from the hillside, the boding cry of the tree toad, that harbinger of storm, the dreary hooting of the screech owl, to the sudden rustling in the thicket of birds frightened from their roost. The fireflies, too, which sparkled most vividly in the darkest places, now and then startled him, as one of uncommon brightness would stream across his path; and if, by chance, a huge blockhead of a beetle came winging his blundering flight against him, the poor varlet was ready to give up the ghost, with the idea that he was struck with a witch’s token…”
—— Washington Ivring The Legend of Sleppy Hollow
This description is very easy to make readers think of themselves experience to walk at night.To make readers feel horrible Association. This passage foreshadows the climax of the story. In retaliation Ichabod and win Katrina's love, on Ichabod’s way home, Brom impersonate the headless horseman, scared Ichabod half to death.
“…All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in the afternoon now came crowding upon his recollection. The night grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight. He had never felt so lonely and dismal. He was, moreover, approaching the very place where many of the scenes of the ghost stories had been laid. In the centre of the road stood an enormous tulip-tree,…It was connected with the tragical story of the unfortunate Andre, who had been taken prisoner hard by; and was universally known by the name of Major Andre’s tree…Suddenly he heard a groan—his teeth chattered, and his knees smote against the saddle: it was but the rubbing of one huge bough upon another, asthey were swayed about by the breeze…”
—— Washington Ivring The Legend of Sleppy Hollow
The plot Ichabod scare himself makes readers feel pity and funny for the superstition country teacher. And then Ivring make the horror go further, coming out the most widely circulated ghost, the headless knight. As expected, the wave of panic up to a climax.
“…He beheld something huge, misshapen and towering. It stirred not, but seemed gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveller. The hair of the affrighted pedagogue rose upon his headwith terror…His heart began to sink within him; he endeavored to resume his psalm tune, but his parched tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, and he could not utter a stave. There was something in the moody and dogged silence of this pertinacious companion that was mysterious and appalling. It was soon fearfully accounted for. On mounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow-traveller in relief against the sky, gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving that he was headless!... Ichabod cast a look behind to see if his pursuer should vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone. Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod endeavored to dodge the horri ble missile, but too late. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash, —he was tumbled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder, the black steed, and the goblin rider, passed by like a whirlwind…”
—— Washington Ivring The Legend of Sleppy Hollow

这篇小说首先是在故事情节设置上，有着浓重的哥特色彩。“无头骑士”代表着超自然的神秘力量。根据当地居民的传说，在睡谷的林地巡着无头骑士的幽灵，“山谷里的人时常会看到它在阴暗的黑夜匆匆驰过，好像乘风飞奔一样。”“这个骑兵的尸身过去就埋在教堂的墓地里，它的阴魂每天晚上都要骑马出去，到当时的战场上寻找它的头颅。”( ． 因此，当伊卡包德·克莱恩和“无头骑士”在漆黑的夜晚在林中相遇，发现无头骑士“那颗原来应该安在肩膀上的脑袋，却给吊在身子前面的鞍头上面”时，小说的诡异惊悚达到了高潮，令人颤栗。

其次，《睡谷的传说》中，故事发生的背景，也带有明显哥特式古旧和神秘的色彩。尽管小说发生时，美国己经赢得了独立战争的胜利，但是在这片土地上，仍有历史留下的幽灵在徘徊。不仅有无头骑士，还有一位安德烈少校也于先前的战争中死于非命，葬身在此。当伊卡包德遭到情人拒绝，借酒消愁，喝得醉醺醺地骑马回家时，“夜色愈来愈黑暗，星星似乎在天空里显得更加深远了，急云有时把它们遮得一点也看不见。”山谷、老树、小溪、独木桥、暗夜、墓地、幽灵等等这些元素，把小说高潮部分的睡谷衬托得一片鬼气森森。

散文化和哥特式风格这两个方面的结合，把艺术的审美性质与故事的情节性质，进行了有机的融合。一般的散文化小说，情节性不强，素材选择上，多倾向于描写生活中的日常和随意，因此除了从日常中提取艺术性之外，重心往往侧重在对描写对象“精神价值”的提炼和概括上。而欧文的短篇小说，没有因为散文化而淡化或忽略情节，也没有出于哥特式风格的发挥而减弱了小说的优美意境。从这个意义来看，欧文的短篇小说追求的并不是深刻，而是一种和谐。