The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Honors Theses Honors College Fall 12-2012 Ghosts of the Mind: The Supernatural and Madness in Victorian Gothic Literature Stephanie F. Craig University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Craig, Stephanie F., "Ghosts of the Mind: The Supernatural and Madness in Victorian Gothic Literature" (2012). Honors Theses. 99. https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/99 This Honors College Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi Ghosts of the Mind: The Supernatural and Madness in Victorian Gothic Literature by Stephanie Craig A Thesis Submitted to the Honors College of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in the Department of English November 2012 ii Approved by _________________________________________ Katherine Cochran Associate Professor of English _________________________________________ Eric Tribunella, Chair Department of English _________________________________________ David R. Davies, Dean Honors College iii Abstract The Victorian era was arguably the most productive time for the Gothic genre. Laden with supernatural experiences and insanity around every corner, the Gothic created a distinct genre of eeriness and morbidity. The key to understanding the genre’s development lies in the culture that caused it to thrive. Victorian culture saw the emergence of supernatural experimentation, particularly in the Spiritualist movement, as well as the further development of psychology.