MP4: WHAT MAKES SOMETHING FRIGHTENING?
ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY NOTES
1. GOTHIC LITERATURE (also referred to as “GOTHIC HORROR”): A
genre of literature in which the setting plays a pivotal role. Gothic Lit combines
elements of horror and the romantic. The name Gothic refers to the (pseudo)medieval buildings in which many of these stories take place.
Gothic lit and film is often parodied today.
a. Elements of Gothic Lit (some are clichés): Damsel in distress, mysterious
people, castles, melodrama,nannies, small children, gates, night-time,
darkness,supernatural, macabre, foreshadowing through mood, especially weather
(storms, howling wind, etc.). – PATHETIC FALLACY
Manderley, the setting for most of Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
b. Famous American Gothic Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner,
Flannery O’Connor, Henry James and even ___________________ – most were
from the South.
Why is Harper Lee – who, aside from Boo Radley – we would never think of as a
“horror” or “suspense” writer – on this list?
c. Gothic Lit originated in _______________. Examples of famous Gothic
authors from this country include:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (often wrote his poetry while on drugs)
Lord Byron
Percy Bysche& Mary Shelley (she wrote ____________)
Bram Stoker (he wrote ________________)
2. GROTESQUE: Characters are usually considered grotesque if they induce both
empathy and disgust. Give an example of any LITERARY characters that evoke
this type of emotional response in the reader:
_______________________________________________________________
3. SUSPENSE: a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in
awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension
or anxiety. In literature, suspense can be established immediately through
________________ and/or ____________________, but then builds slowly
throughout the novel, short story, etc.
4. SUPERNATURAL: pertaining or referring to anything unexplainable or
abnormal
5. MACABRE: grim, ghastly, emphasizing the details and symbols of death
________________ was famous for using this motif in his many poems & short
stories, as he had lost many important women in his life, including his mother and
wife.
6. SUBLIME (imagery): beautiful, evoking ecstatic feelings in the
reader/audience. Juxtaposition of ________________.[Also, a famous 90s
SKA/reggae band.]
8. FRAME TALE (specific to Frankenstein): A narrative structure in which a
secondary story is embedded in the main story.
9. ALCHEMY (specific to Frankenstein): a form of chemistry and speculative
philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned
principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and
with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.