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Consider the view that literature within the gothic genre is always shocking

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Consider the view that literature within the gothic genre is always shocking
Consider the view that literature within the gothic genre is always shocking.

The gothic genre is full of many themes and ideas that are considered to be very shocking to the reader, but maybe not to the reader of the 21st century but to

Within Macbeth there are a few concepts that would be considered shocking. One such concept is the witches that appear multiple times throughout the play casting spells and incantations to see the forthcoming events of Macbeth’s life. “Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble”. To an audience in the 21st century the appearance of witches would be all too common due to the films that that the average people is exposed to, however to an audience in the 17th century who still believe that witches are real, would have found this a most disturbing and shocking thing to witness on stage. All witches are seen to be as very evil creatures that are “not from this earth” and so are believed to be being of another realm altogether making them even more shocking for the audience to bear witness too. Possibly the most shocking and horrific thing for the audience to see in ‘Macbeth’ would have to be the killing of a King. This is because King as supposed to be seen and respected as deities due to them having thought to be appointed by God to rule over and guide people in his place. Just as Duncan was slain, Lady Macbeth says that she “heard the owl scream and the crickets cry” which can be interpreted by the audience to make out that as the King was killed nature itself recoiled is shock to the terrible crime that had just been committed, as the tale is also a play the stage directions add up to create a far more tense and dramatic effect as to emphasise the power of nature’s reaction making the scene ever more shocking for the audience.
The Pardoners Tale conveys strong notions of horrific lies of deceit in order to shock the reader and lead them to the truth about the church and the corruption of money and possessions

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