Gothicism notes

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
of the
a

•Think
supposed
togargoyle
ward offas
evil
mascot
Gothic,
and you
spirits, of
but
they often
look
will
getlike
an demonic
idea of thespirits
kind
more
themselves.
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
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More characteristics
• Presence of ghosts,
spirits, vampires, and
other supernatural
entities
• Mysterious
disappearances and
reappearances
• Supernatural or
paranormal
occurrences

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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

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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

Suicide

Gloomy
settings

Family
secrets

Dungeons Curses

Torture

Castles

Terror

Vampires Spirits

Ghosts

Tombs

Demons


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