Possessing mythical and dark characteristics, Gothic imagination explores the darker side of nature, originally written as a response to the period of reason, order and politics in England during the eighteenth-century. Through Gothic imagination, writers and directors help illustrates the relationship between what we fear and what we desire. ÃÂThe Mysterious Geographical Explorations of Jasper MorelloÃÂ and ÃÂThe Legend of Sleepy HollowÃÂ are Gothic works that is similar in this respect; both containing motifs and themes regarding our world, yet presenting situations that may not be as drastic or realistic nowadays. ÃÂJasper MorelloÃÂ contrasts the other Gothic work, in that it takes a more serious, dark and realistic outlook of human nature whilst ÃÂThe Legend of Sleepy HollowÃÂ again differs from ÃÂJasper MorelloÃÂ by focusing more on the supernatural and spiritual aspects throughout the story.
In ÃÂJasper MorelloÃÂ, everything appears in silhouette form, except for atmospheric effects like steam, clouds, and the sky.
This setting that is the City of Gothia floats in mid-air: a home to many, a world of steam powered dirigibles, that the city is literally a smoking industrial metropolis responsible for the horrible plague that is killing the inhabitants. One can already feel the Gothic feel at the starting of the play; leaves falling off the trees, skies dark and overcast. Further use of steam powered dirigibles, the use of smoke and the dark silhouettes of characters and figures matches the Victorian gothic atmosphere perfectly: gloomy, cheerless, miserable and with the plague, overall depressing. ÃÂThe Legend of Sleepy HollowÃÂ is set around late eighteenth-century (not far from the Victorian Gothic era) in Sleepy Hollow, described by the protagonist and story teller Ichabod Crane. Fitting is the name of Sleepy Hollow, as a ÃÂdrowsy, dreamy influenceÃÂ pervades the atmosphereÃÂ and that it is under ÃÂwitching powers that holds...