How Baillie's Passion Informs the Gothic Novel

Joanna Baillie was a Scottish dramatist who began publishing her work in 1790, at the age of 28. Her Plays on the Passions, which explored the passions she felt drove the actions of mankind, were meant to be her masterwork. In the "Introductory Discourse," Baillie essentially argues that, in humans, there is an inherent sympathetic disposition that drives people to try to understand their peers. In response to meeting a person and observing their behavior, the individual doing the observation is likely to “involuntarily place every person they become acquainted with” (68) into a personality class  that they have defined over a lifetime of judging others dispositions. Despite what people see and understand on the surface of human behavior, Baillie argues that there is always a longing to see beneath the surface of their life and understand them in new ways. In other words, it is one thing for a person to see a man after a burst of anger and categorize them as an aggressive person, but the desire to see what happened to make the man behave in that way is something that is inherent to human nature.  In the Gothic novels we have read in class—Charlotte Dacre’s Zofloya, published in 1806; Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance, published in 1790; and Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto published in 1764—we are given a look into the passions of various characters, but not in a way that Baillie deems appropriate.     

Joanna Baillie (1762-1851)

The unbridled passions that have been described in the Gothic novels are things to be feared. In A Sicilian Romance the marchioness’ passion leads to her eventual death, the passion of men in both A Sicilian Romance and The Castle of Otranto leads to outbursts of extreme violence, and in Zofloya passion leads Victoria to Hell itself. It is nothing like the passions that Baillie argues are one of the most fundamental aspects of human nature. Part of this Baillie attributes to the medium of the Gothic novel itself. In fact, Baillie finds flaw in all mediums outside of the play when it comes to describing human behavior. Because of a person’s natural desire to understand other people, Baillie argues that the play is the only honest medium that can be used to show what is happening behind the scenes.

Historians try to provide information on the past, however, Baillie argues what people have done is only interesting to the general population once we are given a glimpse into the lives of the people performing the actions. Philosophers who study human hearts and passions need to have clear, relatable examples of no one will have any interest in the theory that they are trying to put forth. Poets provide an idealized look at the world and fantastic situations, however, Baillie argues the in poetry “one simple trait of the human heart, one expression of passion” (80) is more interesting to the reader than whatever imaginary world the poet can concoct. Finally, Novels do not provide the reader with realistic people. Instead, the audience is exposed to characters like Julia or Manfred who represent one passion instead of recognizing the variety of passions within us all. 

Baillie argues that Tragedy was probably first type of drama and that, if done properly, sets the viewer up for personal growth. Tragedy allows the reader a moment where they can see a great hero, or villain, in their private moments. These private moments where the character is allowed to reveal their most personal thoughts and human flaws allows the viewer a moment of connection, an access point to understanding the figures inner passions. If the characters are portrayed as simply a lover, or a hero, or a villain than the human aspect of the character is gone and the audience is no longer able to see a real human heart in them. This is what the Gothic works we have read thus far suffer from. Characters tend to take on one aspect of human behavior and model that behavior throughout the course of the novel. Such modes of characterization are useful for the audience in the sense that it is clear that the evil Manfred will be punished, and the good and virtuous Julia will be rewarded, and it provides very clear moral instruction. However, it deprives the reader of the human value that Baillie values so much. Only if the audience is able to make the human connection to the character can they see the effect that extreme passion has on their mind and life. 

While Gothic novels have their fair share of Tragedy, we have not yet seen a Comedy. Where Tragedy shows the heroes and the great figures that have long since been stripped of their human aspects, Comedy shows daily life. Because Comedy already has characters that the audience can relate to, it puts writers like Baillie at an advantage. Instead of trying to humanize some long-dead historical hero, she can focus on the smaller, more subtle aspects of human nature instead. However, Comedy runs the risk of becoming Satirical or Witty or Sentimental and if that happens than the audience loses the warmer aspects of human nature because the focus is purely on amusing them. As a result Baillie feels that Characteristic Comedy is the only route for moralists to take because it finds humor in human flaws that we all posses. 

Baillie takes what she has observed from plays, what she likes and doesn't like, and challenges herself to write her Plays on the Passions in as honest a way as she can. She challenges herself to “trace passions through all its varieties” (105) so even the characters with the smallest parts can be seen as complex humans. By doing so she hopes to avoid the parodies of people that have been presented to us in the Gothic novels we have read so far.     

For more information on the ways in which Joanna Baillie adapts past genres, click here.

And because we are talking about plays and drama and I have a one-track mind, here is a link to Shakespeare's Globe's Tumblr (which is a super fun link thank-you-very-much). 

Discussion Questions:
1. In what ways does Baillie's view on passion and characterization change how we view the previous texts we have read in this course? Or does it change our interpretations at all? 
2. When Plays on the Passions first came out, it was said to be a popular topic of discussion among critics and scholars of the time. A Sicilian Romance and Castle of Otranto both pre-date Baillie's Plays on the Passions by at least a few years, however, Zofloya was published a substantial amount of time after. Do you think Dacre would have been familiar with Baillie's "Introductory Discourse"? What influences from Baillie do we see in the characters in Zofloya? How does this compare with A Sicilian Romance and Castle of Otranto?
3. Baillie discusses in her "Introductory Discourse" why plays are the most suitable method for exploring human emotions and passions. Do you agree with this?