Flashes of lightning accompany revelation; thunder and downpours prefigure the appearance of a character or the beginning of a significant event (eg thunder precedes the entrance of the witches in ‘Macbeth‛; Sunlight – represents goodness and pleasure; it also has the power to bestow these upon characters.ģ. The Weather is used in a number of ways and forms, some of these being: Mist – This convention in Gothic Literature is often used to obscure objects (this can be related to the sublime) by reducing visibility or to prelude the insertion of a terrifying person or thing; Storms – These frequently accompany important events. Catacombs are especially evocative Gothic spaces because they enable the living to enter below ground a dark labyrinth resonating with the presences and mysteries of the dead.Ģ. Cemeteries are widely used in Gothic Literature as oftentimes frightening places where revenance can occur.

A cemetery defines a place which is used for the burial of the dead.

The castle is the main setting of the story and the centre of activity.Ĭemetery /Graveyard. Walpole’s novel first introduced to gothic literature its single most influential convention, the haunted castle. Example: Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Ot ranto. (Translated into modern filmmaking, the setting might be in an old house or mansion–or even a new house–where unusual camera angles, sustained close ups during movement, and darkness or shadows create the same sense of claustrophobia and entrapment.) It is usually a dwelling that is inhabited by or visited regularly by a ghost or other supposedly supernatural being. The castle may be near or connected to caves, which lend their own haunting flavour with their branchings, claustrophobia, and mystery. The castle often contains secret passages, trap doors, secret rooms, dark or hidden staircases, and possibly ruined sections. The action takes place in and around an old castle, sometimes seemingly abandoned, sometimes occupied. The key features of gothic texts are:Ģ) the psychology of horror and/or terror,ħ) strong moral closure (usually at least). Generally speaking, gothic literature delves into the macabre nature of humanity in its quest to satisfy mankind’s intrinsic desire to plumb the depths of terror. The Gothic genre (in both literature and architecture) is therefore associated with savagery and barbarism. Gothic literature derives its name from its similarities to the Gothic medieval cathedrals, which feature a majestic, unrestrained architectural style with often savage or grotesque ornamentation (the word “Gothic” derives from “Goth,” the name of one of the barbaric Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire). These forces often represent the “dark side” of human nature- irrational or destructive desires. Gothic literature is devoted primarily to stories of horror, the fantastic, and the “darker” supernatural forces. (Note particularly ‘Macbeth‛ and ‘Dr Faustus‛) The focus on the grotesque in the medieval period (visible especially in the paintings and architecture of the period) provides a key backdrop against which Gothic must be read, as do the violent and often grotesque tragedies written for the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, with their detailed, almost surgical exploration of the supernatural, vice, corruption, imprisonment, brutality and sexuality, all of which were to provide the very substance of the Gothic authors. However, the roots of the Gothic‛ precede the Gothic‛ works of Horace Walpole.

Due to its inherently supernatural, surreal and sublime elements, it has maintained a dark and mysterious appeal. It introduced the term “gothic romance” to the literary world. Walpole’s novel was imitated not only in the eighteenth century and not only in the novel form, but it has influenced writing, poetry, and even film making up to the present day. The gothic novel was invented almost single-handedly by Horace Walpole, whose The Castle of Otranto (1764) contains essentially all the elements that constitute the genre.

Famous gothic literature authors