Two concepts often seem to be in conflict or contrast at the heart of Gothic fiction; the duality of good and evil is often fundamental to the formation of literature. Inside the 'Dr. Faustus' battle between good and evil is particularly poignant due to the inclusion of characters from morality plays and the angels who advise Faustus. Gothic writers also delve into the complexities of these conflicts to expose a specific message to the reader or to enlighten them about an obscured truth. Shelley, for example, simply highlights the contrasts in human life and allows the reader to attempt to rationalize them. Shelley does this through lines such as “I should be your Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel,” which contrasts the role of Adam with that of the Devil in “Paradise Lost,” who represents holiness and sin. Carter also deals with oppositions with his short story collection "The Bloody Chamber", however, Carter often distorts oppositions; especially between strength and weakness. Regardless of the writer, Gothic fiction always contains a conceptual, rather than physical, opposition or contrast, and which is used as a technique by the writer. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Marlowe in "Doctor Faustus" uses the rare device of personifying concepts that are at odds. In the 1600s there was an obsession with finding an absolute definition of what is moral, hence the use of religion to legitimize actions and its use as a moral code. Marlowe conforms to the laws of his contemporary audience and associates God with the apparently "good" side and the Devil with the innately "bad" side. The angel who offers advice based on God's ideals is also almost satirically called the "good angel." The concepts of good and evil physically battle on stage in some productions and Mephistopheles uses the threat to frighten Faust away from redemption using phrases such as "You traitor Faustus!". Initially, 'Dr. Faustus's appears to be a warning from Marlowe about how good and evil can influence humans through their infinite contrast, and that humans must remain with good otherwise they will be "damned" as Faustus is. However, Marlowe's play blurs the line between good and evil in such a way that it becomes ambiguous for an audience member to say with certainty that they can judge what is truly good. One of the main techniques used by Marlowe to achieve this ambiguity is that Mephistopheles is not unjust, which the audience would expect to be an aspect of evil; instead Mephistopheles actually treats Faustus fairly and warns him of his fate through lines such as "Hell hath no bounds" and "until experience changes his mind." In the final climactic scene Faustus gets exactly what he was promised, there was no deception from the beginning of the deal. To emphasize this element of justice, Marlowe makes it difficult for the audience to have an empathetic connection with the character of Faustus; he is shown as arrogant and rude from the first scene, so the audience watches the morals that the "bad" side employs impartially. By the end of the show it would be difficult for a contemporary audience member to condemn the Devil as being "bad" but simply different. Marlowe's true warning to the audience is that humanity has an extraordinary amount of choices and, ultimately, we are masters of our own destiny. Faustus chooses to summon Mephistopheles and chooses to sign the deed and chooses to insult the Pope, the inclusion of the Devil and God means that Marlowe can distort these absolutist figures and allow the audience totruly realize that the only power they should fear is their own. Just as Marlowe wrote his literature for his specific contemporary audience, Shelley's themes and plot are handcrafted for a Victorian audience. Similarly to Marlowe, Shelley uses contrasts and oppositions as techniques to reveal a truth to the reader. The plot of "Frankenstein" is essentially a series of moral decisions made by Victor, which ultimately lead to his pain. Where the Victorian person would turn to an absolutist doctrine for answers, Victor has no choice, no life was ever created through scientific exploration, and most importantly, there are no rules to follow. Shelley realized that as science continued to prosper, humans would soon enter a chaotic and unknown world in which they would become rulers. To highlight the failed absolutist rules adopted by Victorian society, Shelley creates several key contrasts in the novel that highlight how flawed the assumptions of his society were. This was also very personal to his experience because he had to flee England due to conservative Victorian views. The main contrast in the novel is shown by the line “I should be your Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel.” which is spoken by the creature. This line serves a number of purposes; first, it references "Paradise Lost" which has an ambiguous moral guideline, so the reader understands that Shelley is attempting to oppose social conventions, just as "Paradise Lost" does. The creature who is the personification of monstrosity in the physical sense also pronounces it. The creature throughout the novel is a walking juxtaposition; he is described as "abhorred" but utters passages of eloquent poetry such as "have I not extinguished the spark of existence which you had so arbitrarily given me?". Shelley did this to demonstrate that monstrosity and beauty are not at odds but can work in harmony; thus showing the reader that there are no concrete rules in judging. He is also drawing parallels between the creature and the Devil because both are products of their environment and both are punished for it. The creature enters the world in an impressionistic and joyful way, but due to the humans' association of the monstrosity with evil, they chastise it and "throw stones" and "beat" it, therefore creating the monstrosity. Shelley also uses the contrast to illustrate the hypocrisy that can result from absolutist laws. "Frankenstein" is a novel that projects Victorian society onto itself, using oppositions, exposing the defects created in the use of absolutism. Carter, like Shelley and Marlowe, also includes clear contrasts and oppositions in her stories because she uses the already established gothic genre to explore feminism in the 1970s. However, the techniques used by Carter are significantly different from those of Shelley and Marlowe who attempt to expose the irrationalism of the oppositions, but Carter embraces them instead. In "The Tiger's Bride" Carter shows the reader the difference between an emancipated woman and a ruthless woman towards the will of men. The story begins with the phrase "My father lost me to the Beast at cards." which Carter carefully develops so that the protagonist is compared to a possession, the main male figure in her life has thrown her away as an object to fuel his own greed. To further illustrate how women can become a passive Ionian society, Carter introduces a clockwork mannequin that, although it resembles a human, is anything but one, representing an oppressed woman; Carter further highlights this metaphor by calling the clockwork doll "the twin." At the.