The Gothic
How the Gothic came about:
- 18c Enlightenment  19c Romanticism
o Reactionary to Enlightenment
o Post French Revolution
o Habermas  public sphere theory says that the new value on mass culture (as
opposed to high and elite culture) happens because the masses want books that
are pleasurable to read (in opposition to reason). More books are accessible at
this time because of growing private capital with the rise of capitalism
- Emerging gothic novels of the 1830-40s
o Dracula
o Frankenstein
o Later on the 19c, genre is highly popularized by Edgar Allen Poe
Larger Shifts in Literature:
- Literature became directed towards the masses
- Reason  Pleasure
- Public  Private
- Science  Imagination
- Order  Disorder
- Knowledge  Ambiguity
- Community  Individual
- Culture  Nature and the Common
7 Essential Characteristics of the Gothic
- Negative happenings  the story is centered on something “bad” (creepy, crime,
suspicion, secret, etc.) happening
- Displaced setting
o Old castles / mansions / large homes
o Ornate décor inside – very detailed
o Dreary setting (weather, isolation, age)
- Supernatural
o “Real” supernatural things  ghosts, fairies, living dead, talking ravens, etc.
o Imagined or assumed supernatural things  ghosts, fairies, living dead, talking
ravens, etc.
o Eerie  sounds, movement, silence
- Twinning/Doubling/Uncanny
o A character who has an apparent double in the text (twin or alter-ego)
o Could also be interpreted as duality in a singular character (primarily his/her
inner good and inner evil)
o Literal reflections from mirrors, water, glass, etc.
- Critical of bourgeois values
o Power or wealth
o Domesticity
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Houses are compartmentalized
o Rooms aren’t just settings for scenes; they make the scene
o Secrets are literally kept by the room (under the floorboards, in the walls)
o Ex: Red Room, the inner compartment where Bertha is kept, and Jane’s room
Brooding male protagonist
o Powerful essence; people know when he enters the room
o Tends to be a lady’s man