Edmund Burke describes the difference between Clearness and Obscurity with regards to the passion in “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas Of The Sublime and Beautiful” article.. He argues that the difference between Clearness and Obscurity is far more superior than just reaching the reader’s imagination. “It is one thing to make an idea clear, and another to make it affecting to the imagination. If I make a drawing of a palace, or a temple, or a landscape, I present a very clear idea of those objects; but then my picture can at most affect only as the palace, temple, or landscape would have affected in the reality.”. Burke is arguing that presenting the reader with an image can leave him with the same feeling he would get had the reader observed it from the same perspective in reality. He argues that what leaves a great impression of Obscurity to the reader is through verbal communication “The proper manner of conveying the affections of the mind from one to another, is by words”. I agree with Burke’s brief description of Clearness and Obscurity hence as a reader, I find myself imaging the details of a certain passage by an author, creating a sort of reality illusion, making me more engaged with the reading.

In the Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, before reading the novel, the reader is able to grasp on the idea of the novel taken being somewhere during the medieval times. Hence the title “castle”, first thought that ran across my mind was a sort of defense of some kind. Walpole introduces the reader to the novel with a quick introduction of Prince of Otranto and his children, who Walpole described as ” the latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda. Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no promising disposition”. This relates to the sublime of Burke due to the fact Walpole is able to manipulate the reader into thinking that the daughter is by far the most beautiful girl he laid eyes on. In comparison of the other novels we’ve read in class, I strongly believe that Walpole is able to set the illusion of reality and make better connection with the reader than the previous authors. For instance, “At those words he seized the cold hand of Isabella, who was half dead with fright and horror. She shrieked, and started from him, Manfred rose to pursue her, when the moon, which was now up, and gleamed in at the opposite casement, presented to his sight the plumes of the fatal helmet, which rose to the height of the windows, waving backwards”. Through this, the reader is able to learn about Isabella’s set emotions. Furthermore, this relates to the sublime described by Burke as Walpole alerts the reader of Isabella’s mental state and is able to visualize her condition.