Contextual hauntings: Shakespearean ghosts on the Gothic stage

Francesca Saggini*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

This chapter argues that the supernatural in Fontainville Forest benefits from a contextual and transmedial approach. It presents the consideration two complementary phenomena: the contemporary visual representations of William Shakespearean ghosts and contemporary theatrical stagings of Shakespearean plays at Drury Lane. The chapter considers Fontainville Forest, the first of the plays, and shows how the presence of an onstage ghost offers a complex representation of the often implicit, yet far-reaching, Shakespearean influence on the arts in the 1790s. The plot of Fontainville Forest is very formulaic as it presents all the cultural icons of the Gothic tradition. In Fontainville Forest the suitably Gothic abbey is emphasized at the expense of the heroine’s long wanderings through scenic parts of France and Switzerland, a journey that covers ten out of twenty-six chapters in the novel. In light of Radcliffe’s theory of creative evocation, the introduction of a ghost in Fontainville Forest may thus explain the aesthetics of James Boaden “Romantic” adaptation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationShakespeare and the Culture of Romanticism
EditorsJoseph M. Ortiz
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter8
Pages161-182
Number of pages22
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9781315243351
ISBN (Print)9781409455813, 9781138253827
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Sept 2013

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