Gothic Literature

• Mrs. Talley

• English IV AP

Historic Context

• The words Goth and Gothic describe the Germanic tribes (e.g., Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths) which sacked Rome and also ravaged the rest of Europe in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries.

• By the eighteenth century in England, Gothic had become synonymous with the Middle Ages, a period which was in disfavor because it was perceived as chaotic, unenlightened, and superstitious.

Horace Walpole

24 September 1717 - 2 March 1797

• Walpole wrote what is

considered the first gothic

novel, The Castle of

Otranto (very

melodramatic)

• Published in 1764

• Inspired by his

reconstruction of his home

and a nightmare he’d had

Gothic Conventions

Murder Death Suicide Ghosts Demons

Gloomy

settings

Family

secrets

Dungeons Curses Torture

Vampires Spirits Castles Tombs Terror

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

Gothic architecture

12th~16th century

• Gothic architecture used pointed arches and

vaults, flying buttresses, narrow spires,

stained glass windows, intricate traceries,

and varied details; its upward movement

was meant to suggest heavenward

aspiration.

Literary Connection to Gothic

Architecture

• "gothic" came to describe a certain type of

novels, so named because all these novels

seem to take place in Gothic-styled

architecture -- mainly castles, mansions,

and, of course, abbeys ("Gothic...").

Metonymy of gloom and terror

• The metonymy of gloom and horror.

• 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.

Archetypal Characters

• The Gothic hero becomes a sort of archetype as we find that there is a pattern to his characterization. There is always the protagonist, usually isolated either voluntarily or involuntarily. Then there is the villain, who is the epitome of evil, either by his (usually a man) own fall from grace, or by some implicit malevolence. The Wanderer, found in many Gothic tales, is the epitome of isolation as he wanders the earth in perpetual exile, usually a form of divine punishment.

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;

• the pursued maiden and the threat or rape or abduction;

• physical decay, skulls, cemeteries, and other images of death; ghosts; revenge; family curse; blood and gore; torture; the Doppelganger (evil twin or double); demonic possession; masking/shape-changing; black magic; madness; incest and other broken sexual taboos.

Other Gothic Novels• 1765: Horace Walpole. The Castle of Otranto

1794: Ann Radcliffe. The Mysteries of Udolpho1794: William Godwin. Caleb Williams1796: Mathew Lewis. The Monk1798: Regina Maria Roche. Clermont 1806: Ann Mary Hamilton. Montalva or Annals of Guilt1807: Charlotte Dacre. The Libertine1818: Mary Shelly. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus 1820: Charles Robert Maturin. Melmonth the Wanderer1826: Ann Radcliff: Gaston de Blondeville1826: William Child Green. The Abbot of Montserrat or The Pool of Blood

A classic

•Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

(1818)•Single most important product

of this tradition•Themes relate to science, poetry, psychology, alienation, politics, education, family relationships,

etc.•Tradition: 8-foot tall monster made of separate body pieces

Influence felt elsewhere•Rime of the Ancient Mariner

by Coleridge-- skeleton ship

and the crew’s reaction

•Christabel by Coleridge--

atmosphere, setting, and

fragmentary plot of seduction

and witchery

•Manfred by Byron -- initial

scene

•The Even of St. Ag

Modern Gothic Novels

• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronté

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronté

Other Gothic Writers

• Anne Rice

• Edgar Allan Poe

• Joyce Carol Oates

• Stephen King

• Stephenie Meyer

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”

American Gothic

•Important from the mid-

18th Century on

•Related to “Romantic

Period”

•Criticizes “national myth

of new-world innocence

by voicing the cultural

contradictions that

undermine the nation’s

claim to purity and

equality” - Teresa A.

Goddu

•Tells of historical

horrors that make

national identity

Southern Gothic

•Customary setting because it’s the source of values not

necessarily welcome in the rest of the country

•Poe was the first Southern gothic writer

•Common themes: race, alienation, sense of

“otherness”

Your assignment•Work in groups of 4-5

•Take turns around the circle

creating a “gothic” story -

campfire style - 3-5 mins. in

length

•Take notes and write down

key plot points

•Write down gothic elements

included

•Be prepared to share with the

class.