Stretching our Imaginations to their Limits

Dragons and demons in the Gothic sense were meant to protect and to guard. They might be guarding the sanctity of a place or perhaps the intellectualism fostered within. The latter is probably more apparent in a college campus, though colleges such as Oxford were designed as hotspots for studying theology during the Middle Ages. At a large public university such as The University of Texas, it seems appropriate that any carvings and figurines be the sentinels and protectors of the knowledge and intellectual growth fostered within the building they adorn. And while our campus does not have the Gothic feel as Oxford, the figurines maintain the same purpose of “stretching our imaginations to their limits” (Blackwood 660).

As students strive to discover more about their character, we look to statues and ornamentation like these Gothic figurines for symbolic relationships between things. A pair of lovers representing “the marriage of reason and revelation” (Blackwood 660) is as true today as five hundred years ago. While time and place have changed substantially from medieval Oxford to 21st century Austin, Texas, not much has varied in the purpose of the grotesque figure. The architects of the University of Texas, specifically Cass Gilbert, have merely fused these Gothic elements into the Spanish style, which arguably better reflects the character of Texas. Sutton Hall boasts vaults decorated with classical figures and grotesque dragons side by side. How should we analyze the placement or the proximity of these icons? What impact do they have on us as individuals? The icons mean only as much as the students and faculty attribute to them. Each student will give a different meaning to a figure, and it is natural that certain ones will appeal more than others. Blackwood states that in searching for figures, you should “go at your own pace and find your own friends and favourites” (661). I have been to various cathedrals in England and France throughout my travels; the iconography is astounding and entirely too much to take in and analyze on a single visit. But certain ones stand out; I remember vividly about an archway in one of the cloisters the carving of a fox eating grapes out of a human’s hand. Is this preaching humility? Why grapes? The questions for discussion continue. This class revolves around the premise that “learning is based on discovery” (Bump 343H). Even today I am unsure the definite meaning of that particular figure, but the important part is that it stuck with me and forced me to think. The statue did in fact stretch my imagination. On a campus where grotesque images may seem out of place, the symbolism behind them is more important than ever. While a student walking outside of Oxford may pass a Minotaur’s head without thinking twice, that same figure would not go undetected by the eyes of a good Plan II student. We will disect it for all it's worth and give it our own, personal representation toward something within ourselves.

Notice the differences between Oxford's campus and our own.
So much is different, but the function of Gothic figures remains the same.