HELP!!!! Whats the effect of using lavish,opulent settings in gothic stories??

Question

Hiya. Please help. Im in the middle of my english coursework and have got stuck. Ive asked myself: Why use lavish settings in gothic stories? and i cant think of a good answers. Can anybody give me any ideas? Thanks

Answer 1

Perhaps because they have a lot of "moody" empty space?!?

Answer 2

Man, you are SO decadent! and decadence is the key. Ostentatious and grand means that the person we are facing is rich and powerful - which equals dangerously bored, spoilt and wilful, in gothic terms. It shows a mind hungry for sensation (so clothing will be similarly over the top) but proud (I am better than you!).
On a less anthropomorphic level, for adventure we need the exotic. this stuff doesn't happen around here, as here is dull - it happens in Germany, or Italy, or Arabia, where folks are different to us and the possibilities endless. These days it would be on another world or in outer space, these being the modern sites where "anything can happen".
Fashion - gothic stories often involve fashionable styles (moroccan, egyptian, italianate) that were crazes at the time. they never use Roman or Greek, as these were austere and limited to architecture.
Final thought - snob appeal. The writers of gothic were rich and writing for rich folk. They will identify with the lavish and see that these are people like them, if a little more extreme - not the riff-raff.
Hope this helps a bit, Steve.

Answer 3

Furniture, usually of unpolished oak, borrowed its decorative character from Church art. Carving in oak makes for large-scale, not too fine detail. Familiar floral forms, vines and leaves, with grotesque animal and human representations were often humorously rendered.
The Gothic era was the era of the middle ages...the renaissance...mid 12th century to late 15th century. This time frame saw art, architecture, dress and ornamentation develop into a very involved style. Carving, illumination, flamboyant color, highly decorative elements on everything.
When setting the stage for a Gothic piece, you must try to recreate the actual time...while everything around them was changing, except their attitudes. Superstitious, and fearful, everything was related to God or to the devil. The opulent settings lend a good contrast to the narrow mindedness of the people.

Answer 4

It's a historical residue - gothic texts and films are based in the bourgeoisie self-definition against the aristocratic rule predating the French Revolution.

Answer 5

mainly set in these type of places because most of the stories where written at the time when gothic architecture was at its peak