Essay --

Now that we have demonstrated the Gothic influence on the Brontes’ writings , now that we have identified the interest the Brontes had in the Gothic, it seems logical to assume then that the vampire motif has been exploited not only in Emily and Charlotte Brontes’ works, it is also exploited by Anne Bronte throughout her second work The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The creation of traditional supernatural vampires has no rhyme or reason. It has been like the galloping horse with no horse rider to control the race. Nineteenth century vampires of Gothic literature, by contrast, are literary tools serving some particular purpose. Carol A. Senf in her book The Vampire in Nineteenth Century English Literature stresses the fact that nineteenth century writers make use of the vampire as a social metaphor in realistic fiction. She writes thus:†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Polidori†¦does provide however the merest suggestion of the ways that writers, such as the Brontes and George Eliot, will use the vampire as a social metaphor when he gives the reader brief glimpses of a corrupt society where the wealthy, plagued by ennui, seek to alleviate their boredom by flirting with vice† (Senf: 39). Thus in the case of the vampire motif in a nineteenth century Gothic novel entitled The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne uses Gothic metaphors rather than photographic descriptions to reveal the social horrors of her time. It appears now that Anne Bronte uses much the same narrative strategy as her sisters Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte. Like Charlotte and Emily, Anne Bronte diminishes the vampire’s mythic power and focuses on the sorts of cruelties her human characters display to destroy the lives of others. For instance, through the vampire motif Anne diverts her readers’ atten... ...uding the â€Å"New Woman† of the 1890s. That’s why the blood-sucking aspect of vampires is gradually being diluted by nineteenth century writers. It seems clear therefore, that Anne Bronte, through her outstanding work of art, joins Oscar Wilde’s view that any narrative strategy should be employed solely for unveiling the poor conditions of the time and not for gratifying a bourgeois taste of some kind. In his 1891 essay "The Soul of Man Under Socialism", Oscar Wilde stresses the fact that any artistic piece of work must be a product of the artist’s creative process. A work of art must have one supreme goal; representing what others need and not what others desire to see. This is exactly what constitutes a given artistic greatness, according to Wilde. Indeed, Only when the artist ceases to suit others’ desires, that he comes to be regarded a true artist.(witcombe.sbc.)