This is a very brief Introduction to Gothic Literature

1. Gothic
Literature

2. Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round, walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ (1798)

3. Goya
The Sleep of
Reason Produces
Monsters
(1797)

4. Fuseli
The Nightmare
(1781)

5. Gothic Literature
• The text which is thought to have started
the Gothic tradition is The Castle of Otranto
by Horale Walpole, written in 1764.
• It became a popular genre in the late 18th
Century, and its conventions have been
used by authors ever since.
• In the 19th Century, parodies of the genre
started appearing, because its conventions
were so widely used.

6. Conventions of the Gothic
• Generally combines elements of the Horror and
Romance genres
• Sinister settings – castles, dungeons, secret
passages, winding stairs, haunted buildings.
• Isolated landscapes – rugged mountains, thick
forests, run down backstreets and alleyways,
• Bad weather – storms, lightning, thunder, mist,
fog.
• Evil omens, dark symbolism, ancestral curses
and secrets…big secrets…
• Elements of the supernatural – ghosts,
hauntings, poltergeists, doppelgangers, twins…

7. Gothic Characters
• Tyrants, villains, madmen…and crazy
woman in attics…
• Persecuted maidens, femme fatales,
innocent victims often children…
• Ghosts, monsters, demons, vampires,
werewolves…
• Byronic heroes – intelligent, sophisticated
and educated, but struggling with
emotional conflicts, a troubled past or
‘dark’ attributes, secrets, family curses…

8. Gothic Characters
Primary Themes
•Mystery and intrigue - There is likely to be a mystery that
needs to be solved. This can be anything from a secret room to a puzzle that is
ongoing with clue after clue being revealed
•Fear and dread - Someone, somewhere in the story, will be living in
fear.
•Justice and revenge - A wrong being righted. A crime was
committed and the person who did the wrong action did not “pay for their crime” or
repayment for a wrong that has been done, sometimes recently but often in the past. The
person who is targeted is often not the person who committed the original crime.
•Good and evil - Appreciating that all human beings have a ‘dark side’
that we all have the potential to commit evil. Most people will fight to overcome this side
of human nature. However, someone, somewhere in the story will be committing acts
that can only be decribed as evil.

9. Examples
• Frankenstein – Mary Shelley, 1818
• Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte, 1847
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert
Louis Stevenson, 1886
• Dracula – Bram Stoker, 1897
• Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier, 1938
• The Shining – Stephen King, 1977
• The Woman in Black – Susan Hill, 1983

10. Examples
• Frankenstein – Mary Shelley, 1818
• Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte, 1847
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert
Louis Stevenson, 1886
• Dracula – Bram Stoker, 1897
• Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier, 1938
• The Shining – Stephen King, 1977
• The Woman in Black – Susan Hill, 1983