Gothic Literature
An overview
Why is it called ‘Gothic?’
•
•
•
England from 1790 to 1830
Falls within the category of Romantic literature
It can be seen as a description of a ‘fallen’ world-ultimately, it depicts the
struggle of every human between our ‘good’ side and our ‘bad’ side
•
It is about the result of our fears and repressed emotions and how this
divided condition cannot be understood by ‘reason’
•
Gothic stories feature themes of despair, the grotesque and horror
•
These novels explore ‘the other’ and how this change in dynamic ‘spoils’ an
otherwise idyllic lifestyle
Some famous examples you may have heard of:
Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Mostly women authors-why?
More about what Gothic Literature is
•
•
•
•
•
Named for the setting - ‘Gothic’-styled
architectural building, mostly castles, mansions,
abbeys
Architecture labelled ‘Gothic’ as it was considered
barbaric, reminding the neo-Classicists of the
‘barbaric’ Goths (a northern-Germanic tribe,
probably from modern day Sweden, akin to the
Vikings) who had invaded much of Europe around
5 AD.
Dark stories about the supernatural began to be
known as Gothic fiction
‘Haunted house’ stories
Some modern Gothic stories include Stephenie
Meyer’s Twilight series and Lauren Kate’s Fallen
series
Gothic Elements
1. Setting
2. Characters
3. Plot
1. Settings-vital in Gothic Lit
• They evoke the atmosphere
of horror and dread
• They also portray 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.
1. Gothic
architecture: castle,
monastery, mansion, basements, attics
2. Mist/Fog
Literary convention used
to obscure objects,
reduce visibility, or
preclude the insertion of
something terrifying.
3. Cemetery
4. Lighting: flickering candle,
moonbeams, shadows, electric
failure
5. Rugged
landscapes: mountains, icy
wastes, thick forests
2. Characters
Monster/Villain/Fallen Hero
• Often grotesque
• May have ‘sinned’ and caused
their own despairing fate or
ancestors may have wronged
someone and they are now
cursed
• Could have striven for
‘forbidden knowledge/power
and now live in isolation as
form of divine punishment
• Sometimes has enough ‘good’
points to be seen as more than
just the ‘bad guy’
Protagonist
• Often female and ‘weak’,
innocent
• Pursued by evil force
• Can’t fight the ‘monster’, so
flees instead and is
‘redeemed’ back into
‘normal’ society by a
reunion with a loved one
• Threatened with murder,
abduction, torture
More characters
Supernatural beings
• Vampires
• Monsters
• Witches
• Dark angels
• Werewolves
• Ghosts
Revenant
• The return of the dead upon
the living
More characters
Incarnation of evil
• Devil-type character
• Often the antagonist
• Pursues the heroine
• Attempts to kill, hurt,
destroy, torture
Unreliable narrator
• Audience suspects
narrator’s version of the
story may be
misunderstood or that the
narrator is deliberately
misleading the audience
3. Plot
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Spiral narrative
Ascent or descent
Action at night
The pursued heroine
Decay/images of death
Dreams/visions
Ancestral curse
Entrapment/imprisonment
Gothic gadgets
More plot elements
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gothic counterfeit
Mystery
Comedy that precludes tragedy
Necromancy
Body-snatching
Revenge
Sleep-walking
Superstition
Transformation
Now you decide:
•
•
•
•
Is Edward Scissorhands a Gothic film?
Tick the boxes on your handout that appear in
the film
Then, describe the element as it occurs in the film
Make your decision: is there enough to justify a
claim that Edward Scissorhands is a Gothic film? If
yes, then explain why.
If no, then explain why not and what genre you
think it fits better into