Characteristics
of
Gothic Literature
Subgenre of Romanticism
1800-1860
The Beginnings…
Gothic Literature
Gothic Literary tradition
came to be in part from
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
Romantic writers celebrated the
beauties of nature.
 Romanticism developed as
a reaction against the
rationalism of the Age of
Reason.
 The romantics freed the
imagination from the hold of
reason, so they could follow
their imagination wherever it
might lead.
 For some Romantics, when
they looked at the individual,
they saw hope (think “A
Psalm of Life”).
Gothic writers were peering into
the darkness at the supernatural.
For some Romantic writers,
the imagination led to the
threshold of the unknown—
the shadowy region where
the fantastic, the demonic
and the insane reside.


When the Gothic's saw the
individual, they saw the
potential of evil.
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
•“An awful
apprehension”
•Described distinctly
•Something grotesque
•So appalling,
unrealistic
•Depends on physical
characteristics
• Terror
•“A sickening realization”
•Suggestive of what will
happen
•Depends on reader’s
imagination
•Sense of uncertainty
•Creates an “intangible
atmosphere of spiritual
psychic dread”
Gothic Conventions
Murder
Death
Gloomy Family
settings
secrets
Vampires Spirits
Suicide
Ghosts
Demons
Dungeons Curses
Torture
Castles
Terror
Tombs
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