Elements of Gothic Literature

Setting

Central to the mood or tone of the story

Creates a sense of dread or foreboding

Lots of descriptive language

Ancient Prophecy or Ancestral Curse

The burden or ripple effect of past actions

Prophecy fulfilled through actions

A link in a chain of events that has to happen in order for there to be peace or rest.

Supernatural Elements

Gothic authors capitalize on fear

Fascination with the unexplainable

Unreliable Narrator

The narrator tells the story, thus determining the point of view.

Unreliable narrators mess with our minds as readers or viewers.

An unreliable narrator doesn’t fully understands the situation or draws incorrect conclusions.

Sometimes we know more than the narrator, or sometimes we are just as confused or limited in our knowledge.

Pursued Protagonist

A protagonist is the leading character or most prominent character in a story.

The pursued protagonist is haunted by a curse, pressed on by a force, or experiences some unavoidable persecution.

Damsel in Distress

Girls were often seen as weak and squeamish, running away from danger or anything frightening

Can be a cathartic character, or a character whose reaction or actions provide a way to experience/release the fear or apprehension we feel as readers.

Revenge

Repaying someone for a harm caused

Can be enacted by mortals or supernatural forces

- Secret Passageways & Doors- Mist

These elements add to suspense in the setting, allow for plot twists to develop

Fear of what we cannot see or understand

Sleep – Dreams - Nightmares

Sleep as a form of death

Dreams as mental activity outside the realm of control

Dreams and nightmares dredge up feelings or thoughts or questions that are suppressed or do not occur when conscious.

Dreams can reveal what a character is too afraid to realize in waking moments.

Dreams and nightmares can also be a method of foreshadowing.

Claustrophobia – Entrapment - Imprisonment

Claustrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of confined spaces.

Sense of no way out.

Tombs, secret rooms, towers, closets, etc.

Victim’s sense of helplessness

Doppelganger

German word meaning “look alike,” or “double walker.”

Can be a look-alike, a twin, a shadow of another person, the double of someone, alter ego, or their ghost.

Haunted House or Castle

Inhabited or visited by spirits

Abandoned or partially empty

Parts of the house do not function

Superstition

Beliefs or rituals held or exercised in an attempt to avoid or control outcomes.

Somnambulism

Sleepwalking

Dissociated mental state

Characters sometimes reveal intentions or desires

Graveyard

Place where dead are buried

Cemetery, catacombs, tombs, churchyard, or crypt

A place where supernatural can occur

A place where the living can connect with the dead

Necromancy communing with the dead

Metonymy

Metonymy: noun: the substitution of the name of an attribute for that of the thing meant, for example suit for business executive, or the track for horse racing.

In Gothic Lit, it is a comparison created between the audible or visual characteristic and what it evokes in the reader.

Metonymies that suggest danger or mystery:

Wind, especially howling

Rain

Squeaky, creaky doors

Footsteps approaching

Sighs, howls, moans, etc

Clanking chains

Doors slamming suddenly shut

Crazed laughter

Wolves howling

Thunder and lightning

Ruins of buildings