Haneen Al Ibrahim

ENGL 674: Bibliographical Methods

Assignment #1: Defining a Genre
September 24, 2007

Gothic Genre
An examination of the word gothic states that the word has a wide variety
of meanings, and is used in different fields over the centuries. It is used in literary
and history terms, in architecture, art, music, and different types of media. In
literature, the word gothic is applied to a group of novels and other literary works
written in the time between the 1760’s and 1820’s.
The term ‘Gothic’ originally referred to a group of Germanic tribes who
played a part in the collapse of the Roman Empire, and who were known for
being barbarous and uncivilized. Later in the eighteenth century, the term was
referred to the medieval architecture; it stood as a description for everything un-
classical. And in the middle of the eighteenth century, positive value and
appreciation started to develop towards the medieval architecture and
characteristics, a movement that is called the Gothic Revival. Gothic then
resembled the old fashioned and wild instead of barbarous or uncivilized. Then
the term derived its literary meaning from the eighteenth century novels which
were set in similar Gothic-styled castles that had the properties of ruin, darkness,
decay and the supernatural.
Gothic fiction id one of the important genres in literature, it deals with
horrifying terrors and passions in medieval places like haunted castles among the
woods or dungeons filled with mystery and darkness. There is always a kind of
unspeakable danger that looms around the characters and causes the death of
many of them, and the heroine is usually frail and weak that needs to be rescued
constantly during the novel. Gothic fiction is also associated with romance as it
almost always has a love story within the plot that adds to the complication of the
details and events in the novel.
The characteristics of Gothic fiction are all associated with horror and
dark mystery. There is an emphasis on the supernatural and extraordinary
accounts and mysterious accidents that evolve and develop throughout the course
of the text. The setting of Gothic fiction is usually a dark, half ruined castle set in
a barren place, usually far away from the city and people. The characters are
usually stereotyped: a Byronic hero who is outcast from his family and society
either voluntarily or involuntarily and involve in tragic events that lead to his
downfall. David Punter1 remarks that “’Gothic’ fiction is the fiction of the
haunted castle, of heroines preyed on by unspeakable terrors, of the blackly
lowering villain, of ghosts, vampires, monsters and werewolves.” (The Literature
of Terror, 1)
All aspects of the Gothic fiction describe the same thing: characters
struggling with mysterious and supernatural dangers in a world where everything
1
Punter, David. The Literature of Terror: A History of Gothic Fictions from 1765 to the present day. Volume
.1: The Gothic Tradition. New York: Longman, 1996
is falling. The setting of Gothic fiction depicts the deterioration of the world and
life in the novel portrayed by the presence of the evil that centers the plot, like the
monster in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein that is created from pieces of dead people
and resembles horror and death in all their aspects, and also like the vampires in
Bram Stoker’s Dracula that are hung between life and death and bring fear and
evilness everywhere in the novel.
Horace Walpole (1717-1797) is believed to be the creator or maker of the
Gothic novel. He had an admiration for the gothic architecture and turned his
home at Strawberry Hill near London into a little Gothic castle, which was
eccentric at that time. His novel, Castle of Otranto (1764), is considered the first
Gothic novel in English literature. Brendan Hennessy2 states that Walpole is a
“widely talented dilettante, who through an accident of literary history created one
of the most influential novels ever written.” (The Gothic Novel 10) The plot of
Castle of Otranto centers around the death of Conrad, son of Manfred of the house
of Otranto, and the series of mysterious events that caused his death the evening
before his wedding, and Manfred’s decision to divorce his wife in order to marry
Isabella, his late son’s fiancée. Numerous ambiguous accidents take place during
the novel, like the giant helmet that crushes Conrad to death, a portrait of
Manfred’s grandfather coming to life, a revealing of a true prince, as well as love
stories among some of the characters in the novel.
Walpole used all elements of the Gothic novel in his work; there is the
castle, the romance, passages and dungeons, villains, blood and death. The ghosts
are also given an important role and function in this novel, which adds to the
supernaturalism and unusualness of the text. The atmosphere and forces of nature
are well used to add up to the dark setting of the novel, the moonlight adds to
fearfulness of the night and the events that take place then, and the wind
constantly blows out the candles when they are most needed by the characters.
The Gothic genre is also used in the romantic poetry and medieval
legends, like Dr. Faustus and the Wandering Jew, or in William Collins’ poem
“Ode to Fear” in 1751.

2
Hennessy, Brendan. The Gothic Novel. Harlow, Essex, England: Published for the British Council by
.Longman Group, 1978