"The Castle of Otranto" and "Two Cultures"

Paper Summary:

The paper explains that scientist and novelist C.S. Snowe maintained that, after the Industrial Revolution, the way that human knowledge was classified experienced a catastrophic schism. The paper discusses the divide between science and the humanities. The paper explores how this notion of a divide is evident in the way that modern literary critics frequently interpret 18th century Gothic novels, such as "The Castle of Otranto", by Horace Walpole. The paper concludes that, in Walpole's novel, the past has more impact on the present, affirming the psychological importance of personal history rather than the forces of imminent change and scientific progress.

From the Paper:

"The realism that Walpole perceives in his narrative is the morality that the characters struggle with, in attempting to do the 'correct' thing. Finally, at the end of the novel, Manfred realizes his ancestor's crimes and repents: "Thou guiltless but unhappy woman! Unhappy by my crimes!" Manfred says to his first wife Hippolita, "my heart at last is open to thy devout admonitions... what can atone for usurpation and a murdered child? A child murdered in a consecrated place? The characters that submit to fate, rather than try exercise scientific control triumph, affirming Snowe's theory that there was a growing divide between science and human emotion in terms of how the culture perceived these systems of knowledge."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "The Castle of Otranto." Wikipedia. [28 Jul 2006]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_of_Otranto>
• Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1963.
• Walpole, Horace. The Castle of Ontranto. Originally published 1764. e-text available [27 Jul 2006] <http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/romance/TheCastleofOtranto/toc.htm>l

More papers on "The Castle of Otranto" and "Two Cultures":

• Book Review # 47421 : "The Castle of Otranto"
• Term Paper # 137002 : "The Blend of Chinese and American Cultures"
• Analytical Essay # 30820 : "The Castle of Otranto"."

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