Experimenting with Children

Abstract

Deep under the surface, gothic sought to explain the phenomenon of parents rejecting, hating, abandoning and killing their offspring. It examines family secrets, social backgrounds, cultural shifts and the consequences of politico-religious turmoil. Novels staged what the other side, the Church and the state, would not accept, what they would never publicly admit — the fact that childcare is sometimes difficult, and that many parents refuse to accept the responsibility, a refusal which has resulted in abandonment and infanticide since the beginnings of time. Influenced by the Protestant doctrine of original sin, the multitude of religious constraints placed on parents demanded parental love, a mother’s care and a father’s protection. Parental affection was not seen as something acquired with time but as a duty. The obligations of parents were thus defined not only as protection and education of the child, which alone could be dispensed by any adult, but also as loving one’s child. Showing parental affection was a moral obligation, as illustrated, for example, by the writings of William Paley: ‘the offices of a parent may be discharged from a consciousness of their obligation, as well as other duties; and a sense of this obligation is sometimes necessary to assist the stimulus of parental affection’ (Paley, 238).