Historical Context
The French Revolution was a major event taking place while Eliza Parsons was writing the Castle of Wolfenbach and there are a lot of references to it throughout the book. The moment that “began” the French Revolution was the burning of the prison Bastille. The Bastille resembles a castle-like structure, and that relates to the burning of the Castle of Wolfenbach in Parson’s novel. This correlation shows the influence of the French Revolution on Parson’s writings because she’s using scenes from the French Revolution, ideas/feelings from the Revolution, and politics of the Revolution to form her novel. The Revolution mounted the first effective challenge to monarchical absolutism on behalf of popular sovereignty. This creation of a republican government in France and the diffusion of republican ideals in other European countries influenced the evolution of European politics. The French Revolution cried for Natural Rights and novelists had enthusiasm for liberty and the sovereignty of the people. Like Matilda, the heroes of Gothic novels have been robbed of their birthrights, so they must go to war to get back those natural rights. Matilda has to run away and confront her uncle to get back her natural right of knowing who her true parents are. The French Revolution not only impacted France, but Europe (including Britain) as a whole. “As a response to fears of a lost British identity, Gothic novels (like the Castle of Wolfenbach) reaffirm authentic cultural values culled from the past. They do this first by copying the ways of the past, rather than breaking sharply with it. Further, Gothic novels do more than rehearse the past; they figure that past as a lost Golden Age that can be recovered”. The Castle of Wolfenbach, like many Gothic novels, takes place in the past and in a distant land, yet the novel deals with contemporary issues, such as loss of identity, marriage, and choices. The rise of supernatural fictions correlates to that of the rise of contemporary consumerism. The reading public was expanded; there were new methods for distributing and marketing books. The Gothic novel correlates to the French Revolution because of the outbreak of Terror and the explosion of demand for terror fiction is very obvious.
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