Characteristics

of
Gothic Literature

Subgenre of Romanticism
1800-1860
The Beginnings…
Gothic Literary tradition
came to be in part from
Gothic Literature
the Gothic architecture
of the Middle Ages.
Gothic cathedrals with
irregularly placed
towers, and high
stained-glass windows
were intended to inspire
awe and fear in religious
worshipers.
•Gargoyles—carvings of
small deformed creatures
squatting at the corners
and crevices of Gothic
cathedrals—were
supposed to ward off evil
spirits, but they often look
more like demonic spirits
themselves.
•Think of the gargoyle as a
mascot of Gothic, and you
will get an idea of the kind
of imaginative distortion of
reality that Gothic
represents.
Gothic Literature
 It was an offshoot of Romantic Literature.
 Gothic Literature was the predecessor of modern horror
movies in both theme and style.
 Gothic Literature put a spin on the Romantic idea of nature
worship and nature imagery. Along with nature having the
power of healing, Gothic writers gave nature the power of
destruction. Frankenstein is full of the harsh reality of
nature. Many storms arise in the novel, including storms
the night the Creature comes to life.
 The most common feature of Gothic Literature is the
indication of mood through the weather.
Gothic vs. Romanticism
Gothic writers were peering into
Romantic writers celebrated the the darkness at the supernatural.
beauties of nature.
 For some Romantic writers,
 Romanticism developed as the imagination led to the
a reaction against the threshold of the unknown—
rationalism of the Age of the shadowy region where
Reason. the fantastic, the demonic
 The romantics freed the and the insane reside.
imagination from the hold of
 When the Gothic's saw the
reason, so they could follow
their imagination wherever it individual, they saw the
might lead. potential of evil.
 For some Romantics, when
they looked at the individual,
they saw hope (think “A
Psalm of Life”).
Gothic Movement in America

The Gothic Tradition was firmly established in

Europe before American writers had made
names for themselves.
By the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathanial
Hawthorne, and to a lesser extent Washington
Irving and Herman Melville were using the Gothic
elements in their writing.
Edgar Allan Poe was the master of the Gothic
form in the United States.
Characteristics
• Set in Medieval times
• Dark, mysterious, evil
tone
• Dark castles, palaces,
chambers, haunted
mansions
• Isolated setting
• All come together to
emphasize the sense of
evil
http://www.encounterspri.com/Articles.ht
m
More characteristics
• Presence of ghosts,
spirits, vampires, and
other supernatural
entities
• Mysterious
disappearances and
reappearances
• Supernatural or
paranormal
occurrences http://www.penelopesweb.com/gargoyles.html
Characteristics -- cont’d.
• Religion, usually
Christianity or at
least spirituality, is
confronted.
• A gothic “double” is
used in which a
character who
seems to be good is
linked with another
who is evil www.pagedepot.com/.../ GOTHIC%20CHAPBOOKSX.HTM
More characteristics
• Blood, pain, death
• Cruelty
• Characters with
“aberrant psychological
states”
• Events are uncanny or
melodramatically violent
bordering between
reality and unreality
http://www.pantip.com/cafe/chalermthai/newmovi
e/hauntedcastle/hc.html
Purpose
• To evoke “terror” versus “horror” in the reader
because of situations bordering reality/unreality
•Often used to teach a message
• May lack a Medieval setting but will develop an
atmosphere of gloom and terror
Differentiating between the two

• Horror • Terror
•“An awful •“A sickening realization”
apprehension” •Suggestive of what will
•Described distinctly happen
•Depends on reader’s
•Something grotesque
imagination
•So appalling, •Sense of uncertainty
unrealistic
•Creates an “intangible
•Depends on physical atmosphere of spiritual
characteristics psychic dread”
 Gothic Conventions

Murder Death Suicide Ghosts Demons

Gloomy Family Dungeons Curses Torture

settings secrets
Vampires Spirits Castles Tombs Terror
A few more gothic conventions

Damsel in distress (frequently faints in

horror)
Secret corridors, passageways, or rooms
Ancestral curses
Ruined castles with graveyards nearby
Priests and monks
Sleep, dream, death-like states
 Metonymy of gloom and terror

 Metonymy is a subtype of metaphor, in which

something (like rain) is used to stand for
something else (like sorrow). For example,
the film industry likes to use metonymy as a
quick shorthand, so we often notice that it is
raining in funeral scenes.
 Note the following metonymies that suggest
mystery, danger, or the supernatural
wind, especially howling sighs, moans, howls, eerie sounds
rain, especially blowing clanking chains

doors grating on rusty hinges gusts of wind blowing out lights

footsteps approaching doors suddenly slamming shut

lights in abandoned rooms crazed laughter

characters trapped in a room baying of distant dogs (or wolves?)

ruins of buildings thunder and lightning

 Importance of Setting

 The setting is greatly influential in Gothic

novels. It not only evokes the atmosphere of
horror and dread, but also portrays the
deterioration of its world. The decaying, ruined
scenery implies that at one time there was a
thriving world. At one time the abbey, castle,
or landscape was something treasured and
appreciated. Now, all that lasts is the decaying
shell of a once thriving dwelling.
Basic Plot Structure for a Gothic Novel

 Action in the Gothic novel tends to take place at night, or at

least in a claustrophobic, sunless environment.
 Ascent (up a mountain high staircase);
 Descent (into a dungeon, cave, underground chambers or
labyrinth) or falling off a precipice; secret passage; hidden
doors;
 Physical decay, skulls, cemeteries, and other images of
death; ghosts; revenge; family curse; blood and gore; torture;
the Doppelganger (evil twin or double), etc.
 Gothic Writers

Anne Rice
Edgar Allan Poe
Joyce Carol Oates
Stephen King
Stephenie Meyer