Course Content Blog One - Reading Analysis

For the first day of class at Harlaxton Manor I was required to read "Barbara of the House of Grebe" in order to prepare myself for lecture.  The class then spent our time together discussing the definition and applications of gothic themes throughout the world and within this short story.  "Barbara of the House of Grebe" is written about a woman who disobeys her parents by running away and marrying her lover instead of going through with her parents planned wedding for her to a different man.  Barbara's decision to elope is a gothic part of this story because she relies only on her emotions in order to make this impromptu, spontaneous, and impromptu decision.  The decision is also gothic because it is contrasts her parents rational plan for her to marry another man.  While the story begins with the theme of love conquering all reason and ration, their lives become more dark and gothic as time in their marriage goes on.  Barbara's husband must leave for a year to study and she begins to lose feelings for him and becomes more selfish.  As the story continues Barbara finds out that her husband was in a fire that destroys his facial features, and she is so consumed with vanity that she refuses to look at him.  The goth is presented here because an unexpected tragedy continues to weaken her commitment to her husband, and her emotions cause her to destroy order within her marriage.  A gothic topic that was also introduced in class today was that of the sublime, which means vast or inconceivable and overwhelming.  The sublime is present in this story because Barbara's parents as well as any rational person would not be able to comprehend why she would spontaneously decide to elope without reflecting on her decision.