els bastards
On Penny Dreadful and Gothic literature
Now that we have reached the third season of the TV series, Penny Dreadful, it is well worth reviewing the profusion of literary sources the series draws on from the Gothic novels and English Romantic poetry of the 19th century. The goal of this article is to take a brief look at the links between Penny Dreadful and literature.
The first episode of the new season a few weeks ago was, The Day Tennyson Died, which shines a light on a phenomenon that shook up British Victorian society: the death of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in 1892. Tennyson's popularity at the time can be compared to that of top pop stars today. Some 11,000 people applied to attend his funeral that was limited to a thousand. Yet, Tennyson's fame would wane over the next few years with the rise of American poets, such as Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, who blew away the conventions of British poetry. In fact, Ezra Pound would write 18 satirical works about Tennyson, known as 'Alfies ', which focused on some of the great poet's stylistic shortcomings while criticising Victorian phlegm as the country began to lose its dominant influence on the world stage.
Vanessa Ives, the main female character in Penny Dreadful, at the beginning of the first episode, quotes Tennyson's In memoriam, 27 and Queen Victoria's favourite poem: “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” The reference is no accident and symbolises the beginning of the change towards modern society.
Origins
But what is the origin of the sensationalist storybooks known as Penny Dreadfuls? The first go back to 1830 in the shape of pulp stories aimed at working class British men. One of the best-known was Varney the Vampire followed by the introduction of the figure of Sweeney Todd in the story, The String of Pearls: A Romance. These books involving vampires and monsters were the direct descendents of the cheap Gothic horror stories of the previous century, such as The Monk (1796) or The Castle of Otranto (1764).
Penny Dreadful revolves above all around the novel Dracula. With Timothy Dalton comes the figure of Sir Malcolm Murray, alter ego of vampire hunter Van Helsing, and father of Mina. The show's third season also introduces Dr. Seward, the manager of the lunatic asylum from Bram Stoker's famous novel, who has a leading role in the series. However, let us return to the figure of Mina, who is the invisible fuel of the series, in contrast to the Alan Moore graphic novel, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in which she is centre stage as a vampire with supernatural powers, as she is in Stephen Norrignton's film version, with its steampunk atmosphere.
Nor does Penny Dreadful ignore a classic of the era, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The young scientist Victor Frankenstein creates a Caliban, the sub-human antagonist of Shakespeare's The Tempest, who in Penny Dreadful lives hidden in the shadows of an isolated theatre, resonant of Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.
And where would we be without werewolves? Josh Harnett, playing the role of Ethan Chandler, is the wolf man everyone is looking for and who is visually inspired by the film, The Company of Wolves (1984), and who draws on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Meanwhile, his monstrous personality plays off against Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), the sexualised, extravagant and hedonistic character created by Oscar Wilde, which has spawned so many adaptations.
Let us end with more poetry, William Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, or the John Keats poem, Ode to a Nightingale, leading poets of the era who also get a look-in in Penny Dreadful, and who I would personally recommend you read whenever you have a bit of spare time.
So, friends, that is it. Enjoy this unique and entertaining mix of TV and literature. You deserve it.