Gothic stories started to become popular in the late 18th century. These stories grew in popularity, in part, as a response to the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment emphasized reason and science, investigation and inquiry; on the other hand, feeling and intuition and concepts like genius were deprivileged and considered to be of far less importance. Romantic philosophies concerning the importance of emotion and its superiority over science and reason arose in response, and Gothic literature is part of this movement.
Romantics believed emotion was the superior aspect of humanity because emotion and creativity do not have to be taught. Study, investigation, and reason are all things we must learn, skills we must acquire. Therefore, our feelings are more purely human because we come into the world already knowing how to feel, and Romantic writers believed we could be more true to ourselves by cultivating our feelings. Gothic literature inspired terror, fear, and passion, some of the strongest feelings human beings can have. As a result of this power, Gothic literature was believed to be beneficial.
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