Characteristics

of
Gothic Literature
 When did it become popular?
•Later 18th Century
•Started with a “Gothic
Revival” -- mid-1700’s
• Visible in gardens
• Seen in architecture (gargoyles)
of the Middle Ages
• 1740’s - Horace Walpole - Strawberry
Hill estate near London
• Published The Castle of Otranto: a
Gothic Story - 1764
Application to literature
•Any kind of romantic,
scary novel
•Came from Germany in
the late 1700’s - early
1800’s
•Popular among female
writers
•Became best sellers!
 Famous Gothic Writers
•Ann Radcliffe - The Mysteries of
Udolpho
•Jane Austen -- Northanger Abbey
(parody of Gothic novels)
•Charlotte Bronte -- Jane Eyre
•Emily Bronte -- Wuthering Heights
•Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier,
Barbara Michaels, Anne Rice
 A classic
•Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
(1818)
• Single most important product
of this tradition
• Themes relate to science,
poetry, psychology, alienation,
politics, education, family
relationships, etc.
• Tradition: 8-foot tall monster
made of separate body pieces
 Influence felt elsewhere
•Rime of the Ancient Mariner by
Coleridge-- skeleton ship and the
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images2/
ancient_mariner4.jpg

crew’s reaction
•Christabel by Coleridge--
atmosphere, setting, and
fragmentary plot of seduction and
witchery
•Manfred by Byron -- initial scene
•The Even of St. Agnes by Keats --
setting
Famous Gothic Writers -
cont’d.
•Edgar Allen Poe
•Steven King
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
 More characteristics
•Presence of ghosts, spirits,
vampires, and other
supernatural entities
•Mysterious disappearances
and reappearances
•Supernatural or
paranormal occurrences
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
 More characteristics
•Blood, pain, death
•Cruelty
•Characters with “unusual
psychological states”
•Events are “uncanny, macabre,
or melodramatically violent
bordering between reality and
unreality
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 apprehension”
•“A sickening realization”
•Described distinctly
•Something grotesque
•Suggestive of what will happen
•So appalling, unrealistic •Depends on reader’s
•Depends on physical
imagination
characteristics •Sense of uncertainty
•Creates an “intangible
atmosphere of spiritual psychic
dread”
 American Gothic
•Important from the mid-18th Century on
•Related to “Romantic Period”
•Criticizes “national myth of new-world
innocence by voicing the cultural
contradictions that undermine the nation’s
claim to purity and equality” - Teresa A.
Goddu
•Tells of historical horrors that make national
identity
Southern Gothic

•Customary setting because it’s the source of values not

necessarily welcome in the rest of the country
•Poe was the first Southern gothic writer
•Common themes: race, alienation, sense of “otherness”
Cyber gothic
literature
•Situations seem unrealistic during this
time period but possible in the future
•Dark setting
•Nothing natural; all man-made
•Characters’ bodies are often altered,
making them less human-like
•Based on knowledge and a
“technologically enhanced future”
 Gothic Literature – a literary genre
characterized by four elements:

The story is set in bleak or remote places

The plot involves macabre* or violent incidents.
Characters are in psychological and/or physical torment.
A supernatural or otherworldly element is often present.

* Macabre- disturbing or horrifying because of a depiction of death or injury.

Synonyms – Gruesome, grisly, grim, gory, grotesque, morbid, hideous, loathsome,
repugnant, repulsive
Your assignment
•Work in groups of 4-5
•Take turns around the circle
creating a “gothic” story -
campfire style - 3-5 mins. in
length
•Take notes and write down key
plot points
•Write down gothic elements
included
•Be prepared to share with the
class next time we meet.