本論文旨在透過埃德蒙·伯克提出的崇高概念和安·雷德克利夫對驚奇和恐怖的區分，來分析人類恐懼、驚奇和恐怖等情感之間的相互關聯，並據此探討兩部維多利亞後期哥德小說中的主角心理狀態之轉變：《道林·格雷的畫像》（1890）中的道林·格雷，以及《化身博士》（1886）中的亨利·傑奇爾博士。傳統哥德式敘事在18世紀下半葉興起且蓬勃發展時，著墨於人類對未知事物無可抗拒的吸引力及本能的恐懼心理。此外，哥德小說作家經常將他們的角色置於逆境中，描繪他們面對未知時的心理恐懼和存在上的無力感。然而，早期哥德式敘事對未知的恐懼缺乏概念上的深度或多層次的複雜性缺乏深入剖析。這種對恐懼的表象描繪，隨著埃德蒙·伯克（Edmund Burke）「崇高」概念的深化與普及而有所改變。從伯克所提及的人類「力量」能夠昇華恐懼的觀點出發，恐懼可以是一種「驚懾」（terror），成為驅動人們追尋希望與自我提升的強烈動力。然而，這種驅力中所蘊含的希望也可能逐漸消失，則「驚奇」便會轉變為「恐怖」（horror），成為一種無法逃離的絕望狀態。在此架構下，本文的分析將聚焦於上述兩部小說中兩位主角如何從驚懾墮入恐怖的心理過程，並強調他們在面對令人震懾的發現時，如何錯失自我救贖的契機。道林的冷漠、傑奇爾的嗜血縱欲，以及他們對人類良知的忽視，將於後續章節中深入探討。

This thesis aims to differentiate two seeming interchangeable ideas under the category of “fear”—terror and horror—according to the theories of Edmund Burke and Ann Radcliffe and then to trace the progression from the sublime “terror” to the pathetic “horror” in the careers of the two main characters in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Traditional Gothic narratives emerged and flourished in the second half of the 18th century, playing upon irresistible attraction and instinctive fear toward the unknown. Moreover, Gothic writers often placed their characters in moments of adversity, portraying their psychological fear and existential helplessness when confronted with the unknown. However, characters’ fear of the unknown in earlier Gothic works lacks conceptual depth or multi-layered complexity in a closer analysis of the emotion. This shallowness in representing fear changed with the introduction of the concept of the sublime by Edmund Burke in revealing a hopeful, even “delightful” aspect of the emotional tension in confronting the unknown. Fear indeed manifests itself in multiple dimensions within the human mind and can lead to both positive and negative consequences. From the perspective that fear can be sublimated through the resilience of the human “power” (Burke 14), it becomes what Ann Radcliffe later calls “terror,” which serves as an intense form of motivation for the pursuit of hope and self-improvement. Horror, in contrast, refers to a state of helplessness and despair in face of a seemingly inescapable misery. Terror may transform into horror if the hope emerging through terror dissipates. This thesis aims to analyze the interconnections among these human emotions of fear, terror, and horror through Edmund Burke’s concept of the sublime and Ann Redcliffe’s differentiation between terror and horror. In view of these interconnections, I will analyze the transformation of the protagonists in the two late Victorian Gothic novels mentioned above. The analyses focus on the transition of the characters’ psychological states from terror to horror, highlighting the moments they forfeit the opportunities of redemption that have been offered by their “terrifying” discoveries. Dorian’s indifference, Dr. Jekyll’s bloodthirsty impulses, and their shared dismissive attitude toward human conscience will be investigated in the following chapters.

Brown, Julia. Oscar Wilde’s Philosophy of Art. The University Press of Virginia, 1997.
Burke, Edmund. Philosophical Enquiry into The Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, R. and J. Dodsley, 1824.
Carroll, Noel. “The Nature of Horror.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 46, no. 1, 1987, pp. 51–59.
Czyzewska, Urszola, and Grzegorz Glab. “Robert Louis Stevenson Philosophically: Dualism and Existentialism Within the Gothic Convention.” Roczniki Filozoficzne, vol. 62, no. 3, 2014, pp. 19–33.
Durant, David. “Ann Radcliffe and the Conservative Gothic.” Studies in English Literature, vol. 22, no. 3, 1982, pp. 519–530.
Ganz, Melissa J. “Carrying on Like a Madman: Insanity and Responsibility in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol. 70, no. 3, 2015, pp. 363–397.
Gaughan, Richard T. “Mr. Hyde and Mr. Seek: Utterson’s Antidote.” Journal of Narrative Technique, vol. 17, no. 2, 1987, pp. 184–197.
Houghton, Walter E. The Victorian Frame of Mind, Yale University Press, 1957.
Keech, James M. “The Survival of the Gothic Response.” Studies in the Novel, vol. 6, no. 2, 1974, pp. 130–44.
Lovecraft, H.P. Supernatural Horror in Literature, New York: Ben Abramson, 1945.
Massey, Irving. “The Third Self: ‘Dracula, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and Mérimée’s ‘Lokis’.” The Bulletin of the Midwest Modern Language Association, vol. 6, no. 2, 1973, pp. 57–67.
McKillop, Alan D. “Mr. Radcliffe on the Supernatural in Poetry.” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 31, no. 3, 1932, pp. 352–359.
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Jekyll/Hyde.” The Hudson Review, vol. 40, no. 4, 1988, pp. 603–608.
Pennington, John. “Textual Doubling and Divided Selves: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mary Reilly.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 6, no. 2/3, 1994, pp. 203–216.
Power, Albert. “Edmund Burke (1729–1797).” The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature, no. 16, Samhain 2020, pp. 7–14.
Pres, Terrence Des. “Terror and the Sublime.” Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 2, 1983, pp. 135–146.
Quintus, John Allen. “The Moral Implications of Oscar Wilde’s Aestheticism.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 22, no. 4, 1980, pp. 559–574.
Raby, Peter. Oscar Wilde. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Radcliffe, Ann. The Mysteries of Udolpho, London: Printed for J. Limbird, 1836.
Radcliffe, Ann. “On the Supernatural in Poetry.” New Monthly Magazine, vol. 16, no. 1, 1826, pp. 145–152. https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/208925/On%20Supernatural%20in%20Poetry%20(Ann%20Radcliffe).pdf. PDF file.
Saposnik, Irving S. “The Anatomy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Studies in English Literature, vol. 11, no. 4, 1971, pp. 715–731.
Smith, N. Kemp. “Its Nature and Diverse Uses.” Philosophy, vol. 32, no. 120, 1957, pp. 3–20.
Stevenson, Robert. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales, Oxford University Press, 2006.
Stiles, Anne. “Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ and the Double Brain.” Studies in English Literature, vol. 46, no. 4, 2006, pp. 879–900.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oxford University Press, 2006.
Wright, L. Daniel. “‘The Prisonhouse of My Disposition’: A Study of the Psychology of Addiction in ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’.” Studies in the Novel, vol. 26, no. 3, 1994, pp. 254–267.