Death on the Moors

reblogged and edited from my old website: Gypsyscarlett

Redbreast In the Morning

“What woke it then?  A little child

Strayed from its father’s door

And in an hour of moonlight wild

Laid lonely on the desert moor.”- Emily Bronte  1837

 

— When Miss Bronte penned those poetic lines, perhaps she was thinking upon  this ghostly tale which took place in her home town:

Haworth.  February 1801-

Two-year old Joseph Helliwell snuck outside and attempted to secretly follow his father  from their home at Enfieldside to Pecket Well, where the farmer had a business meeting.  Tragically, Joseph could not keep up as his father made his way up the old Haworth Road.   He was found frozen to death the next morning upon the Moor.

Haworth.  January 27, 1849-

Four-year old Joseph Halliwell lived with his father on Far Intake Farm.  One day, the little boy ventured out and became lost.  Four days later, he was found frozen to death upon the same moor which had claimed his  near-namesake less than fifty years before.

resource:  “Strange World of The Brontes” by Marie Campbell

Tarot Sevens

Dreams, hopes, wishes, mania,  daring to bring castles in the air down to earth, the need to be able to decipher good choices from bad, being kissed by moonlight, debauchery,  emotional drunkiness, Venus in Scorpio

from the Bohemian Gothic Tarot: “Daydreams- both realistic and fantastical, delusions, choices, hopes, ambitions: some plausible, others not. dangerous delusions, lunacy”

Seven of Pentacles: questioning our material needs. What is necessary to reach our goals?  What must we strip away?  Taking a rest from our work to reevaluate.  Are we happy with the fruits of our labor?  Was the toil worth it?

from the Bohemian Gothic Tarot: “Reviewing what you’ve achieved.  A time to contemplate and to consider.  Making plans at other people’s expense.”

Seven of Swords:

The perceptive qualities of the rational-minded number seven meet the airy aspect of Swords.  The pursuit of knowledge.  A need and desire to work on one’s own.  Eccentricity.  Stubborness and willfullness.  Evasiveness.  Keeping secrets.

from the Bohemian Gothic Tarot: “A small piece of dishonesty or deception.  Mixing with things you don’t fully understand.”

Seven of Wands:      Fiery challenges and fights.  Destroying obstacles.  Strength in the face of adversity.  Staying true to one’s self.  The ego.

from the Bohemian Gothic Tarot: ” A battle that you know you can win.  A fight against the odds.  Getting a buzz out of winning through a difficult situation.”

“Riches I hold in light esteem
And Love I laugh to scorn
And lust of Fame was but a dream
That vanished with the morn–
And if I pray, the only prayer
That moves my lips for me
Is–’Leave the heart that now I bear
And give me liberty.’

Yes, as my swift days near their goal
‘Tis all that I implore
Through life and death, a chainless soul
With courage to endure!”- Emily Bronte

Into the Gothic World of the Monk

reblogged from my older blog, Gypsyscarlett: Writing the Victorian Gothic.  originally posted on May 20, 2012

One of my maxims for writing stories that take place in past eras is that people have always been the same.  What goes on inside hearts, and behind closed doors has never changed.   It is only the outer society that differs in clothes and manner.

     A fantastic example of this is the 1796 novel by Matthew G. Lewis.   It is difficult to imagine this being published in the staid Victorian period.  But go back one century to the much more bawdy 18th, and this book was not only published, it was a smashing hit.  The fact that some critics deemed it obscene and dangerous, of course, only helped to sell more copies.

      Matthew Lewis, born on July 9. 1775, to a prominant English family, wrote the novel in a span of ten weeks.  Inspired by the novel, Mysteries of Udolpho, he aimed to write his own Gothic masterpiece.   Evidently putting aside any care or worry what anyone would think of him or his novel, he went full out, no-holds barred. The title character, Ambrosio is the ultimate man of two faces.  To his congregation he is the embodiment of purity and moral excellence.  Inside, he is an ego-ist who feeds on their adoration.

       The novel becomes a Matryoshka doll of stories within stories.  Romance,  sex, magic, murder,  and ghosts  fill the pages. While the confessions he hears indicate that most of the characters are decent enough folk caught up in an unjust world,  Ambrosio, himself, spirals into one of the most loathesome characters in all of literature.  A hypocrite to the extreme who blames everyone  and everyone but himself for anything and everything he does,  his arrogance and utter disregard for others leads him to rape and murder.

     The novel also boasts one of the most fascinating, unapologetic characters in Matilda.  As Ambrosio’s lover and nemesis,  she is his perfect foil, and the reader will be quite curious whose side she is really on.

     Story-wise, the novel is a marvel and it is easy to see why it had such great influence on such later literary figures as Emily Bronte and Poe.  On the negative side, the novel is unfortunately filled with the racism and sexism of its day.  Reading the treatment of the women is not easy.  Their constant punishment will raise the hair of anyone with modern sensibility.   While the men happily go along their merry ways, you can bet any of the female characters who engages in physical intercourse- whether it be consensual sex or  rape, will either die or lose her beauty and retire into a convent.  Only one female character in the book who has had pre-marital sex is “allowed” by the author to marry the man she loves at the end.   But not until after she has suffered one of  the cruelest, most heartbreaking tragedies one can imagine.

     Accepting the book for the era it was written, I was able to greatly enjoy the story while glaring at times and being grateful that authors no longer need to punish their ladies as some sort of horrible, hypocritical “moral”.

     Recommended as a highly engaging, spellbinding, and at times, surprisingly humorous tale with a fantasic, witty end.