Gothic fiction is characterized by the elements of fear, horror, the supernatural and darkness,

as well as by characters such as vampires, demons, heroes, heroines and villains. Other
elements that characterize this type of fiction might include mystery, romance, lust and dread.
This genre is the forerunner of the modern horror genre, although the Gothic style continues
to have many practitioners. Originating in the late 18th century, this type of fiction was a
branch of the larger Romantic movement that sought to stimulate strong emotions in the
reader fear and apprehension, in this case. The name of the genre comes from medieval
architecture, because it often harks back to the medieval era in spirit and subject matter, and
it sometimes uses Gothic buildings as a setting.

Common Subject Matter

This style of fiction places heavy emphasis on atmosphere, using setting and diction to build
suspense and a sense of unease in the reader. Common subject matter includes the
supernatural, family curses, mystery and madness. Gothic fiction might also feature a
romantic plot or subplot, particularly in later incarnations from the Victorian era and the 20th
century. Although the novel is often considered the best example of this genre, some poetry
and short stories can also be characterized as Gothic, such as those written by the Graveyard
Poets of late 18th century England or the short stories of Edgar Allen Poe, which have
influenced Gothic writers ever since they were published.

Times and Places

Gothic fiction often deals with past eras, sometimes romanticizing them and other times using
them as symbols of excessive darkness and oppression. In its early days, the genre took the
medieval period as a major inspiration. Early novels were characterized as romances,
referencing a medieval narrative genre. These novels were often anti-Catholic and used a
medieval setting to showcase what their authors believed to be abuses of Catholic power.
Conversely, early Gothic fiction often romanticized the medieval period by adopting the style
of its literature and returning to more emotional, fantastical subject matter instead of
embracing the rationalism and order that had dominated Enlightenment thought.

Modern examples of this type of fiction have continued the tendency to look to past eras,
often using such settings as colonial America, Victorian England or the pre-Civil
War southern United States. Like the medieval period to many writers of the 18th and 19th
centuries, these eras offer fodder for romanticization and moral criticism. Modern Gothic
works set in the present day might take place in a 19th century mansion, much in the way
that early works commonly used medieval castles as their settings.

Popular Authors

Gothic novels were among the most popularly read fiction of the late 18th century, with
notable examples including Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto in 1764, Anne
Radcliffe'sThe Mysteries of Udolpho in 1794 and M. G. Lewis' The Monk in 1796. Although
it was less popular during the Victorian era, 19th-century Gothic fiction was among the best-
known and most-read literature of the late 20th century and early 21st century, including
works by writers such as Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily and Anne Bronte, Nathaniel
Hawthorne and Oscar Wilde. The vampire, one of the favorite stock characters of this genre
of fiction, appeared in several important works of this era, including John Polidori's The
Vampyre, Sheridan LeFanu'sCarmilla and Bram Stoker's Dracula.
In modern literature, the more intense and gory horror favored by writers such as Stephen
Kinghas largely taken the place of this genre. Gothic fiction, however, has continued to have
a faithful following, and its influence can be noted in literature, film and music. Many of Alfred
Hitchcock's films, as well as the books and stories on which they were based, could be
considered Gothic. Writers such as William Faulkner, Harper Lee and Tennessee Williams
applied the style to their treatment of the American South. Some contemporary authors,
including Joyce Carol Oates and Patrick McGrath, have continued to write in the Gothic
tradition or to update it to address their own concerns.
The Gothic period extended from the 12th to the 15th century Anno Domini (AD) in Europe.
It was a French-borne artistic movement that sprouted a number of artistic works of many
kinds, but is best known for its fashions and its innovative and unique style of architecture.
The Gothic period developed out of the Romanesque period, and many historic European
churches feature architecture from this movement. The Gothic period is the artistic period
just preceding the famous art period known as the Renaissance, which began in Italy and
occurred in the 15th through the 17th century.

Famous Gothic style buildings are many, but include the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,
France, the Cologne Cathedral in Germany and the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in
Italy. After construction of the original Gothic period buildings, Gothic style experienced a
revival in the 16th century, further spreading the architectural look of the period. This is why
some early American churches are built in the Gothic style when settlers were not yet in the
Americas during the Gothic period.
Gothic architecture is characterized by an affinity for light, tall arches, and vertical structures.
Large, colorful, and brightly sunlit stained glass windows gained popularity in churches
during this artistic period. Many Gothic buildings have tapestries decorating the inside of the
building, and outside, pointy spires that reach high into the sky from the rooftops of these
buildings.
The Gothic art style was considered by many to be rough, barbaric and unrefined in
comparison with Classical art pieces of the past. Critics spoke harshly against Gothic artists
before the style became generally accepted. Famous artists who were active during the
Gothic period were many, but included French painter Jacquemart de Hesdin, Polish German
painter Jan Polack, and German sculptor Veit Stoss.
Fashionable women during the Gothic period often wore pointy headdresses that looked like
a pair of draped horns, with their hair pulled back tightly from their foreheads. Exposed hair
was often worn long and flowing, and decorated with a floral headband. Men wore tight hose
with undershirts covered by draped, puffy decorative overshirts known as doublets, which
were sometimes embroidered.
Europe experienced a great deal of war and suffering during this time. The Gothic period is
the artistic period that coincided with the peak of the Bubonic plague, better known as the
Black Death, in Europe. It also coincides with the Hundred Years' War.
Gothic literature is a branch of fiction that first became popular during the late 1700s in
Europe. The stories generally present a combination of horror, mystery and romantic
elements, with many stylized features and a particular focus on setting. Most of the stories
take place inside of castles, and they normally either contain significant supernatural
elements or they hint at potential supernatural occurrences that are later explained. The basic
formula for the Gothic novel has evolved a lot over time, and many traditional elements, such
as castles, arent always present in more recent examples.
Breaking the Gothic novel down into a set formula isnt necessarily as straightforward as it
might seem. The genre is known for being somewhat formulaic, but that formula has changed
significantly since the first Gothic works in the 1700s. Most but not all Gothic literature
tends to focus on female protagonists and often there is some sort of family curse or a terrible
history associated with a particular place. The main character may find herself feeling
threatened and eventually try to solve a mystery in order to save herself and prevent a
disaster.
Often there is a male love interest who might also be mysterious or even seem dangerous
until later in the story where he will most likely be exonerated. There are many other
traditional character roles that fit like puzzle pieces into basic story templates, and they
changed a lot as the genre evolved. Many of the changes in the genre were based on shifts
in audience taste and the particular kinds of audiences reading the stories.
Many of the early examples of Gothic literature were heavily focused on supernatural
elements, and some of them might fall comfortably into the modern horror genre. Over time,
the focus shifted so that Gothic works usually provided a natural explanation for most of the
supernatural things that happened in the story. The characters may believe that ghosts are
involved or something similar, but usually they discover that it was actually something
mundane. This is not always true, however, and in many cases, there may be a fair number
of mysteries left unresolved at the conclusion.

Traditionally, the castle setting of Gothic literature was key because the stories usually relied
heavily on a dark, frightening atmosphere. This has continued to remain basically true, but
often, more contemporary settings are used. For example, the story may take place in an old
mansion instead of a castle, and the main character could be someone who inherited an
estate from rich family members she didnt know about. The events that take place may rely
heavily on features of modern society, which can make them different from traditional Gothic
stories, but they will also often mirror the traditional format in many ways.

Gothic poetry can refer to works created in a number of different styles, but typically involve
relatively specific subject matter. The period in which such a piece was composed often has
a tremendous impact on the way in which it was written and what aspects of the poem make
it Gothic in nature. Classic works often relied on allusions to the medieval period of Europe
and often have emotional content that includes love and the supernatural. Victorian Gothic
poetry is, perhaps, the most well known and includes work by poets such as Edgar Allen
Poe, while more modern works often take a somber and morbid tone.
There are many different types of writing that can be considered Gothic poetry. The various
styles often found within this category are largely based on the time period in which the works
were composed. Some of the earliest tales in this style were written in the 18th Century and
included imagery, themes, and settings that recalled medieval Europe. These works
frequently included overtones of romance and melodrama. Many such works were written as
novels, rather than as Gothic poetry, but the themes and content of them has much in
common with those poems that followed.

Gothic poetry experienced a great deal of support and interest during the Romantic era.
Writers such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley used elements of
Gothic style within their poems. This blending of dark imagery with works that focused on
nature and love was extremely influential on poets and writers who followed them.
Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner is among the most well known Gothic poems from
this period.
The Victorian era of the 19th Century led to a tremendous resurgence of such works including
a great deal of Gothic poetry. Edgar Allen Poe was responsible for much of this work, which
remains popular well over 100 years later. Poes poems often combined different elements
of horror, including supernatural and psychological terror, with romance and the dark,
brooding settings often associated with traditional gothic works. The poetry of Poe
established content which later writers often sought to emulate through their own works.
Much of this emulation occurred throughout the 20th Century, especially the late 20th
Century and the rise of the Gothic sub-culture. Gothic poetry produced by these writers is
often very strongly influenced by the works of Poe, and frequently focuses more on the dark
and psychologically twisted aspects of human nature. These poems are commonly written
as a way for someone to express pain or dissatisfaction through writing. Such Gothic poetry
can continue to use supernatural and horrific concepts, though additional overtones of
morbidity and despair are quite common.

Literary Terms

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I n this introduction, you will learn some of the basic terms used to discuss literature:

genre, theme, character, plot, setting, and context. We will be applying these terms
specifically to gothic texts, but they are applicable to other literature.

Generally speaking, genre is a type of literature. Broad genres include fiction, poetry, and
nonfiction. Fiction is literature that has been made up, imagined, or invented. Although the
story might have some basis in fact, the literary work is generally the product of the writer's
imagination. In contrast, nonfiction is literature based on real events and facts. Poetry is
literature that makes use of various formal structures, such as meter (which is a set series
of rhythms), and an economy of language.
These three broad genres can be broken down into various subgenres. Therefore, fiction
includes novels, short stories, and plays. Poetry can entail everything from a sonnet to a
lyric. Nonfiction generally includes short essays, histories, memoirs, and literary criticism.
For this course, we will be discussing a particular subgenre of fiction, gothic novels. The
specific characteristics that define this subgenre are discussed in this lesson. At this point,
it is important to realize that we are talking about a particular kind of literature, one with
distinctive characteristics that make it different from, for example, a realist novel or a
romance novel.
Throughout the course, we will explore various themes in gothic texts. A theme is an idea
or a subject considered consistently throughout a work. For example, in gothic texts, we will
often encounter themes of marriage and courtship, the supernatural and unexplainable,
and the persecuted woman.

The people or personalities in a literary work are its characters. Terms such as round or
flat and dynamic or static are used to describe characters. Round characters are well
developed; they have complex personalities, often exhibiting both positive and negative
characteristics. Flat characters are one-sided; often, they are symbolic characters and may
be stereotypes. Dynamic characters have personalities that change over the course of a
text, whereas static characters' personalities stay the same.

The plot is what happens in the story, the main events and actions. Often (but not always),
plots are described as triadic: there is a rise of action, a climax, and then a dnouement.
The rising of the action is the buildup; it leads up to and sets the climax, the "big event" in
the text. The dnouement happens after the climax. Sometimes, it is called "falling action."

Setting refers to the location or locations in a text. When reading literatureespecially

gothic literaturepay special attention to where events take place. Do they take place
outdoors or indoors or in a private household or in a public space? How does the setting
affect the mood and themes of the work? How does the location affect the action in the
text? Sometimes, especially in gothic texts, the setting can act like a character itself.

Context refers to the social or political events that surround the composition and
publication of a literary work. For example, an American literary novel written during the
1960s would be read in the context of the Vietnam War, Woodstock, the rise of suburbia,
the Civil Rights movement, and so on. Sometimes, works are also considered in the
context of their authors' lives. So when reading a novel about divorce, one might look to
see if the author or the author's parents are divorced. Generally speaking, however, most
people agree that the author's personal experiences are not reliable indicators of the
source of the text's characters and plot elements. More often, the social context (such as
the climate of divorce in the 1990s) is a better avenue inside to the text's meaning. In this
course, we will examine the social and political changes in the mid- and late-eighteenth
century (17501800) and how gothic texts reflected and responded to these changes.

Elements of Gothic Literature

As you will learn, gothic literature violates many of the mainstream values and norms of the
eighteenth century. As such, it exists as a commentary on the ways eighteenth-century
society was structured. Gothic texts critiqued everything from the standards of art and
literature to the roles of women in society. In this section, we will look at some specific
elements of gothic literature and the characteristics of the eighteenth century that it
challenged.

Gothic Architecture

G othic literature takes its themes of terror, darkness, sublimity, and confusion

from Gothic architecturehence, its name. Gothic architecture is a style of building that
was popular in the Middle Ages, from about the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Most gothic
buildings are religious buildings: abbeys, cathedrals, monasteries. Pointed arches, intricate
stonework and sculptures (like gargoyles), tall spires, high vaulted ceilings, and stained-
glass windows are characteristics of Gothic architecture. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in
Paris, France, is a famous example of a Gothic-style building.
 The Cathedral at Notre Dame,

with its tall spires, vaulted ceilings, and stained glass windows, is a famous example of

Gothic architecture.

The term gothic was not applied to this style of architecture until the sixteenth century. The
term was used pejoratively, intended to demean the architecture as crude and barbaric, like
the Goths (a Germanic tribe known for attacking Rome). At the same time, the
wordGoth was a stereotype for rude and primitive.

By the time of the eighteenth century, Gothic buildings in England were almost entirely in
ruins. Three primary factors aided in their downfall. Gothic buildings first became
threatened under the reign of Henry VIII, who ruled England from 1509 to 1547. During his
reign, Henry VIII dissolved England's monasteries, disentangled England from the Roman
Catholic Church, and instituted Anglicanism. These actions against the church were
motivated by his personal desire to divorce one of his wives, an action which the Catholic
Church forbade. (As you may know, Henry VIII was famous for marrying six wives.) He
instituted Anglicanism in England and, as a result, had England's religious buildings turned
over to the state. Many of these buildings were dismantled and rebuilt so as to no longer
symbolize the power of the Catholic Church.

More Gothic-style buildings were dismantled during the English civil wars in the
seventeenth century. These conflicts, which arose over who could ascend to England's
throne, resulted in a brief period of history wherein England was governed by a prime
minister, not by a king or queen. Oliver Cromwell, the first prime minister, was renowned for
his Puritanism. The battles he engaged in often resulted in the destruction of Gothic castles
and any remaining religious buildings. These destructions were symbolic; they reflected
both Puritanical iconoclasm and antiroyalist sentiment. Gothic buildings were destroyed
because they represented either an unacceptable visual glorification of God or the wealth
and power of kings and queens. Many prints from this time show Gothic buildings in ruins.

Finally, many Gothic buildings remained in ruins during the eighteenth century for aesthetic
reasons. Their pointed arches, gloomy stonework, and vaulted ceilings were not considered
beautiful or even moral. Eighteenth-century men and women "of taste" preferred classical
(i.e., Greek or Roman) architecture. These buildings are sometimes called Palladian, a
term that refers to the re-imagining of the classical-style architecture during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. In contrast to Gothic architecture, classical or Palladian
architecture was round, open, and proportional.

This appreciation for "all-things classic" carried over into literature. Eighteenth-century
polite society appreciated literature that, like classical buildings, conjured the models set up
by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Epic poetry, philosophical treatises, and literature that
emphasized education, rationality, morality, and balance were valued.

Gothic literature thus arose in marked contrast to longstanding political, religious, and
literary ideals. For gothic writers, Gothic architecture symbolized political turmoil and the
unknown, forgotten, and disregarded past. Ruined Gothic buildings, with their intricate
architecture, hidden passageways, and unexplored rooms, embodied for both writers and
readers a desire to confront the unknown and the unknowable of history and of the
individual's psychology.

The Unexplainable and the Unknown

G othic literature attempts to explore the innermost recesses of ourselves and our

society. Gothic novels attempt to create for their readers "pleasing terror" by considering
elements of human psychology and social acts that were often suppressed in the polite
culture of the eighteenth century. These elements are the supernatural, the past, and the
exotic.

Ghosts, dreams, mysterious storms, bumps in the night, and other unexplainable
supernatural events populate gothic literature. For many readers, the Catholicism that took
place in the Gothic buildings that serve as the setting for the literature appeared
superstitious and spooky and seemed akin to stereotypes about ancient and medieval
witchery and magic. Most gothic novels contain elements of the supernaturalghosts,
hauntings, premonitionsand other unexplainable events.

Gothic novels are often set in the historical past. The use of an historical setting is, in part,
a response to Gothic architecture; many writers tried to imagine what it would have been
like to live in Gothic buildings. The setting of the historical past also gives writers the
freedom to invent characters and actions that would seem impossible in contemporary
settings. In addition, many gothic novels begin (as Horace Walpole's first edition of The
Castle of Otranto did) with the claim that the story was "found," rather than written; the
author pretends to be merely an editor or a translator of an ancient manuscript. This literary
device both lets the writer "off the hook" for writing about scandalous or salacious topics, as
well as creates an aura of believability. By setting the events and characters in the past,
gothic authors were attempting to convince readers that the unbelievable events in the
story were true, even if untenable in contemporary times.

Many gothic works are also set in distant, exotic locations. Many works we will read in this
course are set in Europe, specifically Italy and France. By setting their works in locations
other than England, gothic authors were able to create a more believable storyline (it's as if
they were telling their readers, "well, that could never happen in your hometown, but maybe
in someplace you've never seen") and to take more liberties in their critiques of society. As
you will find, the national setting of a gothic text often is perfunctory; although the events
may take place in France, for example, most of the characters act like English characters
and the Gothic buildings and natural settings could as easily be in England as in France.
Through such a literary device, the author can critique all things English, all the while
claiming that his or her work is, on its surface, about French characters. Choices of exotic
settings also reflect England's increased imperial activity and global presence. England's
economy, at the time, was becoming increasingly based on the exportation of natural
resources from other parts of the world. This change in economy entailed sending more
English people to newly discovered lands to colonize them. When gothic novels include
exotic locations and faraway places as their settings, they are responding, in part, to an
increased awareness in English culture of the world beyond the boundaries of the English
isle.

Gothic literature's desire to explore the unknown is also a response to the eighteenth
century's emphasis on scientific rationalism. The eighteenth century is often described as
the Age of Reason, the Age of Science, or the Enlightenment. The latter term primarily
denotes the period's philosophical emphasis on the use of science and deductive logic as
ways of knowing. Many eighteenth-century thinkers saw themselves as breaking free of
medieval understandings of the world. People in the "Dark Ages," many Enlightenment
thinkers argued, were superstitious and believed what people in authorityspecifically,
religious leaders and kingstold them about the world. Eighteenth-century thinkers felt that
they could more accurately perceive and understand the world around them with the aid of
science, which was based on reason, deductive logic, and observation; thus, they were
"enlightened." The Enlightenment emphasized polite culture, rational conversation and
literature, and scientific investigation into everything from the laws of nature to human
relationships and emotions. Gothic writers' interest in the unexplained, the unknown, and
the terrifying can be seen then as a reaction to the Enlightenment's emphasis on the
rational and knowable.

Heroines in Distress

C entral to almost all gothic texts are images of heroines in distress. Often, these

heroines are described as attractive and well educated (or, if not well educated, having an
inherent sense of good taste and morality). Many gothic heroines are orphaned. The gothic
heroinealone and without parental guidanceis usually beset by an evil male suitor
intent on possessing her fortune or her body or both. Gothic texts frequently contain images
of women who have gone insane, have been kept captive by tyrannical men, or have been
murdered. Generally speaking, the theme of a persecuted woman can be found in almost
every gothic text. This feature of gothic literature likely arises from a number of
characteristics of eighteenth-century culture.

Prior to the industrial revolution, English society had been divided into two primary
classesthe aristocracy and everyone else. Movement into the aristocratic class was
limited since it was based on inherited wealth. By the middle of the century, England saw
an increase in a new group of peoplea middle class. Many men, newly wealthy from
trade with other countries and a new urban economy, aspired to be like (or even better, be
a part of) the aristocracy; namely, to have an education, access to polite society, and, most
importantly, to own land and wield political power. For these men, marriage to the daughter
of an aristocratic family was one of the easiest and fastest ways to acquire social power
and prestige. Women in the eighteenth century were not legally allowed to own property,
and, once a woman was married, any money she had became her husband's. Often, a
marriage was far more about a business relationship and protecting or acquiring property
and social clout than it was about love.

But this is certainly a complicated situation. Eighteenth-century culture valued women for
their ability to impart moral and social virtues onto society, to "civilize" men in a way.
Women were increasingly inculcated into a "cult of sensibility;" they were encouraged to
hone their emotions and feelings in order to make themselves morally and physically
attractive to men. Additionally, because inheritance procedures were strict, a woman's
chastity before and her loyalty during marriage were emphasized to ensure that the
children she bore were undoubtedly those of her husband. So although a marriage might
be about business, it was always best if your wife loved you. It would be deeply problematic
(on both a political and moral level) if a wife loved someone other than her husband and
produced illegitimate heirs. Many gothic works exhibit this eighteenth-century anxiety about
women's feelings and about who has the right to choose a woman's husbandher father,
her potential husband, or the woman herself.

Finally, the rise of a middle class also meant more people had access to education and
thus England saw a rise in its literate population. Consequently, the eighteenth century
witnessed a significant surge in the production and consumption of reading for purposes of
entertainment. Women were a very visible presence in the literary marketplace, both as
readers and as writers. A lot of literature at the time either expressed anxieties about
women's behavior, or instructed them how to behave appropriately.

You should now read The Castle of Otranto in its entirety before moving on to the second
part of the lesson. When you have completed the novel, read the remaining sections of this
commentary. Reread passages from the novel that are referenced and discussed in the
commentary.

Horace Walpole (17171797)

Horace Walpole (17171797) is considered by most to be

the first gothic writer.

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H orace Walpole was the son and heir of a successful politician. By all accounts,

Walpole was a social man, well liked within a wide circle of friends. He corresponded at
length with a large number of social elites and literati and published works by both himself
and by other writers from Strawberry Hill, a press located on his estate. Walpole was a
prolific writer. Among his other works, he compiled a series of biographical anecdotes on
famous painters. However, except for his contribution to gothic fiction, he was not an overly
influential writer.

The Castle of Otranto was Walpole's first serious attempt at a "gothic" novel, a term he
himself coined and that has stuck to the genre. Five hundred copies of the novel were
printed on Christmas eve of 1764 at Strawberry Hill. The novel was popular, and it
immediately went into a second edition in 1765. In the preface to the first edition, Walpole
claimed that the novel was an old manuscript newly discovered and one that he simply
edited and translated for the reader. In the preface to the second edition, Walpole
confessed his authorship, acknowledging that The Castle of Otranto was a work of fiction.
He drew the ire of quite a few of his contemporaries for his original deception.

The Castle of Otranto

The Plot

M anfred's son, Conrad, is set to marry Isabella, despite an ominous curse

rumored to plague the house of Otranto. The curse is mentioned in Chapter 1: "The castle
and lordship of Otranto 'should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner
should be grown too large to inhabit it.'" On his way to the wedding, Conrad is crushed by a
giant helmet that falls from the sky.

The death of his son and only heir prompts Manfred to divorce his wife, Hippolita, and to
marry Isabella himself, so that he can produce more male heirs. Isabella, horrified at the
prospect of marrying Manfred, escapes from the abbey with the help of a peasant, whom
we later discover is really Theodore, the son of Otranto's priest and the rightful heir to the
castle of Otranto.

A number of supernatural events happen in the castle. First, various servants catch a
glimpse of giant feet and hands. A knight bearing a gigantic sword also shows up at the
castle and claims to have received a prophetic and mystical mandate to avenge the rightful
heir of Otranto. This knight turns out to be Frederic, Isabella's father. Both he and Theodore
fall in love with Matilda, Manfred's daughter. Manfred decides that Frederic can marry
Matilda in return for being allowed to marry Isabella himself. Frederic, after seeing a ghost
and hearing about the giant, decides against the marriage. Manfred, convinced that
Theodore and Isabella are lovers, attacks Theodore and stabs the woman with him, who, it
turns out, is Matilda, his own daughter.

The reader then learns that Theodore is the grandson of Alfonso the Good. Manfred is the
grandson of Alfonso's steward, Ricardo, who murdered Alfonso and fabricated a will that
allowed Ricardo to inherit Alfonso's estate. Manfred, appalled at his murderous actions,
removes himself to a monastery, as does Hippolita. Isabella and Theodore eventually
marry.

Analyzing the Novel

Complex villains. Manfred is a classic example of a gothic villain. He is complex: he is
neither pure evil nor pure good. Instead, he is presented as a man who is generally good
but who is unable to control his passions. Most of his actions are attributable to this
character flaw: his inability to control himself or to master his desires. In some ways,
Manfred is unable to control his fate; although it is not Manfred who is guilty of usurping the
rightful heir to Otranto, it is he who pays the price for his grandfather's transgressions.
Manfred is guilty of trying to avoid the curse or the consequences that stem from his
grandfather's actions.

Gothic representations of women. There are three central female characters in the
novel: Hippolita, Matilda, and Isabella. Hippolita appears as the weakest female character.
She seems willing to be subservient to her husband's desires, even when those desires
include divorce and remarriage to Isabella. Matilda, her daughter, originally chooses not to
marry, preferring instead to go to a convent. This seems like a relatively radical position,
one that indicates both her dedication to religion and her refusal to conform to her father's
or society's marital expectations. When she falls in love with Theodore, she takes drastic,
active steps (like helping Theodore to escape) that challenge her father's authority. Her
reluctance to marry Frederic and to be a pawn in her father's machinations is also a strong
statement. It is interesting then that Matilda is killed off in the narrative, instead of Isabella.
Of the two, Isabella seems to be the more passive and weaker. After all, Isabella is willing
to marry Conrad even though she feels little for him and is also surprisingly willing to
relinquish her love for Theodore when she discovers Matilda loves him. The marriage
between Isabella and Theodore that "resolves" the narrative is also telling, as it involves a
connection made between the two through their shared sense of grief and sorrow over
Matilda. This does not seem like a very good basis for a marriage.

Gothic setting. The setting, which takes place in a Gothic castle, is almost a character in
the novel. The haunted castle, with its ghosts and bleeding statues and the images of giant
hands and feet and helmets that crush the walls, spurs on much of the novel's action. The
castle also is the site of conflict. To whom does it rightfully belong is a question that
permeates the story. The castle also sets the mood. Gloomy, dark, dangerous, ominous
and confusing, the castle reflects the emotions and psychological experience of many of
the novel's characters.

Challenges to eighteenth-century culture. By placing characters and events within the

walls of a Gothic building and by simultaneously emphasizing confusion, emotion, and
terror, the novel violates eighteenth-century standards of polite culture and neoclassical
proportion. Similarly, by examining the effects of a family curse, supernatural events, and
the unwieldy passions of its main character, the novel challenges the period's emphasis on
the knowable and the explainable. The novel also challenges the culture's attitude toward
relationships between men and women. For example, Manfred's pursuit of Isabella is
wrong, as is his desire to divorce his wife. These acts make Manfred appear tyrannical and,
perhaps, even perverse. Similarly, Matilda appears as a woman who wants to make her
own choice in marriage and who directly disobeys her father. Additionally, the novel's plot
revolves around the question of rightful inheritance, which also may reflect anxieties in the
eighteenth century over the shift from a society dominated by an aristocracy to one
dominated by a growing middle class.

Review
For purposes of review, let me remind you of the main points covered so far in this lesson.
First, we looked at some key terms used to discuss literature: genre, theme, character,
setting, plot, and context. Then, we examined the specific elements that define gothic
literature: the use of Gothic architecture, a focus on the unknowable and unexplainable,
and the representation of a heroine in distress. We looked at the emergence of gothic
literature in the context of the eighteenth century, most specifically the period's emphasis
on scientific rationality and the emergence of a middle class. Next, we were introduced to
Horace Walpole, who many believe started the gothic genre, and then the story and
characters of his The Castle of Udolpho. Finally, we examined some key aspects of the
novel, specifically, its representation of a complex villain, its portrayal of women, its use of a
gothic setting, and the issues in the larger culture it responded to. You should now prepare
to take the Lesson 1 Progress Evaluation. It will assess your comprehension of both
Walpole's The Castle of Otranto and the basic elements of gothic literature discussed in
Lesson 1. To prepare for this progress evaluation, review the commentary and the
assigned reading.

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. Walpole's novel was imitated not only in the eighteenth
century and not only in the novel form, but it has influenced the novel,
the short story, poetry, and even film making up to the present day.

Gothic elements include the following:

1. Setting in a castle. The action takes place in and around an old castle,
sometimes seemingly abandoned, sometimes occupied. The castle often
contains secret passages, trap doors, secret rooms, dark or hidden staircases,
and possibly ruined sections. The castle may be near or connected to caves,
which lend their own haunting flavor with their branchings, claustrophobia,
and mystery. (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.)
2. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The work is pervaded by a
threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown. Often the plot itself is
built around a mystery, such as unknown parentage, a disappearance, or some
other inexplicable event. Elements 3, 4, and 5 below contribute to this
atmosphere. (Again, in modern filmmaking, the inexplicable events are often
murders.)

3. An ancient prophecy is connected with the castle or its inhabitants (either

former or present). The prophecy is usually obscure, partial, or confusing.
"What could it mean?" In more watered down modern examples, this may
amount to merely a legend: "It's said that the ghost of old man Krebs still
wanders these halls."

4. Omens, portents, visions. A character may have a disturbing dream vision,

or some phenomenon may be seen as a portent of coming events. For
example, if the statue of the lord of the manor falls over, it may portend his
death. In modern fiction, a character might see something (a shadowy figure
stabbing another shadowy figure) and think that it was a dream. This might be
thought of as an "imitation vision."

5. Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events. Dramatic, amazing events

occur, such as ghosts or giants walking, or inanimate objects (such as a suit of
armor or painting) coming to life. In some works, the events are ultimately
given a natural explanation, while in others the events are truly supernatural.

6. High, even overwrought emotion. The narration may be highly

sentimental, and the characters are often overcome by anger, sorrow, surprise,
and especially, terror. Characters suffer from raw nerves and a feeling of
impending doom. Crying and emotional speeches are frequent. Breathlessness
and panic are common. In the filmed gothic, screaming is common.

7. Women in distress. As an appeal to the pathos and sympathy of the reader,

the female characters often face events that leave them fainting, terrified,
screaming, and/or sobbing. A lonely, pensive, and oppressed heroine is often
the central figure of the novel, so her sufferings are even more pronounced
and the focus of attention. The women suffer all the more because they are
often abandoned, left alone (either on purpose or by accident), and have no
protector at times.

8. Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male. One or

more male characters has the power, as king, lord of the manor, father, or
guardian, to demand that one or more of the female characters do something
intolerable. The woman may be commanded to marry someone she does not
love (it may even be the powerful male himself), or commit a crime.
9. 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 that the
following metonymies for "doom and gloom" all suggest some element of
mystery, danger, or the supernatural.

wind, especially howling rain, especially blowing

doors grating on rusty hinges sighs, moans, howls, eerie sounds

footsteps approaching clanking chains

lights in abandoned rooms gusts of wind blowing out lights

characters trapped in a room doors suddenly slamming shut

ruins of buildings baying of distant dogs (or wolves?)

thunder and lightning crazed laughter

10. The vocabulary of the gothic. The constant use of the appropriate
vocabulary set creates the atmosphere of the gothic. Using the right words
maintains the dark-and-stimulated feel that defines the gothic. Here as an
example are some of the words (in several categories) that help make up the
vocabulary of the gothic in The Castle of Otranto:

Mystery diabolical, enchantment, ghost, goblins, haunted, infernal, magic,

magician, miracle, necromancer, omens, ominous, portent,
preternatural, prodigy, prophecy, secret, sorcerer, spectre, spirits,
strangeness, talisman, vision

Fear, Terror, or afflicted, affliction, agony, anguish, apprehensions, apprehensive,

Sorrow commiseration, concern, despair, dismal, dismay, dread, dreaded,
dreading, fearing, frantic, fright, frightened, grief, hopeless, horrid,
horror, lamentable, melancholy, miserable, mournfully, panic, sadly,
scared, shrieks, sorrow, sympathy, tears, terrible, terrified, terror,
unhappy, wretched

Surprise alarm, amazement, astonished, astonishment, shocking, staring,

surprise, surprised, thunderstruck, wonder

Haste anxious, breathless, flight, frantic, hastened, hastily, impatience,

impatient, impatiently, impetuosity, precipitately, running, sudden,
suddenly
 Anger anger, angrily, choler, enraged, furious, fury, incense, incensed,
provoked, rage, raving, resentment, temper, wrath, wrathful,
wrathfully

Largeness enormous, gigantic, giant, large, tremendous, vast

Darkness dark, darkness, dismal, shaded, black, night

Walpole himself lays on most of these elements pretty thick (although he's a
lot lighter on darkness than many modern gothic works), so it might be said
that another element of the classic gothic is its intensity created by profuse
employment of the vocabulary of the gothic. Consider this from Chapter 1
of The Castle of Otranto: The servant "came running back breathless, in a
frantic manner, his eyes staring, and foaming at the mouth. He said nothing
but pointed to the court. The company were struck with terror and
amazement." Gets your interest up on page two, doesn't he? Then, "In the
meantime, some of the company had run into the court, from whence was
heard a confused noise of shrieks, horror, and surprise." The Castle of Otranto
is available at Amazon.com

An Example

The 1943 Sherlock Holmes film, Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (one of the
classic Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce films), contains all the elements of the
gothic. Here is a brief rundown of the items above:

1. Setting. It's not quite a castle, but it is a huge mansion with several levels,
including a basement and a hidden sub-basement. Dark and drafty. Ominous.

2. Atmosphere of Mystery. It's a multiple murder mystery, with cryptic notes,

hidden passageways, wind, lightning, and everyone a suspect.

3. Ancient Prophecy. There is the Musgrave Ritual. Obscure, compelling,

ancient.

4. Omens and portents. The crow at the tavern, the intrusive lightning strike,
the taunting notes from the butler.

5. Supernatural or inexplicable events. How the victims died. The lightning

seems to strike at just the right time.
6. Overwrought emotion. The female lead screams and panics a bit.

7. Women in distress and 8. Women threatened by a male. Toned down here,

but the murderer had designs on the heroine.

9. The wind blows, signs bang into the wall, lightning, a few characters are
trapped in various ways.

Elements of Romance

In addition to the standard gothic machinery above, many gothic novels

contain elements of romance as well. Elements of romance include these:

1. Powerful love. Heart stirring, often sudden, emotions create a life or death
commitment. Many times this love is the first the character has felt with this
overwhelming power.

2. Uncertainty of reciprocation. What is the beloved thinking? Is the lover's

love returned or not?

3. Unreturned love. Someone loves in vain (at least temporarily). Later, the
love may be returned.

4. Tension between true love and father's control, disapproval, or choice.

Most often, the father of the woman disapproves of the man she loves.

5. Lovers parted. Some obstacle arises and separates the lovers,

geographically or in some other way. One of the lovers is banished, arrested,
forced to flee, locked in a dungeon, or sometimes, disappears without
explanation. Or, an explanation may be given (by the person opposing the
lovers' being together) that later turns out to be false.

6. Illicit love or lust threatens the virtuous one. The young woman becomes
a target of some evil man's desires and schemes.

7. Rival lovers or multiple suitors. One of the lovers (or even both) can have
more than one person vying for affection.
Victorian Gothic[edit source | editbeta]

Edgar Allan Poe was an important reinterpreter of Gothic fiction.

By the Victorian era Gothic had ceased to be the dominant genre and was dismissed by most
critics (in fact the form's popularity as an established genre had already begun to erode with the
success of the historical romance popularised by Sir Walter Scott). However, in many ways, it
was now entering its most creative phase. Recently readers and critics have begun to
reconsider a number of previously overlooked Penny Blood or Penny Dreadful serial fictions by
such authors as G.W.M. Reynolds who wrote a trilogy of Gothic
horror novels: Faust (1846), Wagner the Wehr-wolf (1847) and The
Necromancer (1857).[29] Reynolds was also responsible for The Mysteries of London which has
been accorded an important place in the development of the urban as a particularly Victorian
Gothic setting, an area within which interesting links can be made with established readings of
the work of Dickens and others. Another famous penny dreadful of this era was the
anonymously authored Varney the Vampire (1847). The formal relationship between these
fictions, serialised for predominantly working class audiences, and the roughly
contemporaneous sensation fictions serialised in middle class periodicals is also an area worthy
of inquiry.
An important and innovative reinterpreter of the Gothic in this period was Edgar Allan Poe. Poe
focused less on the traditional elements of gothic stories and more on the psychology of his
characters as they often descended into madness. Poe's critics complained about his "German"
tales, to which he replied, 'that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul'. Poe, a critic himself,
believed that terror was a legitimate literary subject. His story "The Fall of the House of Usher"
(1839) explores these 'terrors of the soul' while revisiting classic Gothic tropes of aristocratic
decay, death, and madness.[30] The legendary villainy of the Spanish Inquisition, previously
explored by Gothicists Radcliffe, Lewis, and Maturin, is revisited in "The Pit and the Pendulum"
(1842). The influence of Ann Radcliffe is also detectable in Poe's "The Oval Portrait" (1842),
including an honorary mention of her name in the text of the story.

The influence of Byronic Romanticism evident in Poe is also apparent in the work of the Bront
sisters. Emily Bront's Wuthering Heights (1847) transports the Gothic to the forbidding
Yorkshire Moors and features ghostly apparitions and a Byronic hero in the person of the
demonic Heathcliff whileCharlotte Bront's Jane Eyre (1847) adds The Madwoman in the
Attic (Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar 1979) to the cast of Gothic fiction. The Bronts' fiction is
seen by some feminist critics as prime examples of Female Gothic, exploring woman's
entrapment within domestic space and subjection to patriarchal authority and the transgressive
and dangerous attempts to subvert and escape such restriction. Charlotte's Jane Eyre and
Emily's Cathy are both examples of female protagonists in such a role.[31] Louisa May Alcott's
Gothic potboiler, A Long Fatal Love Chase(written in 1866, but published in 1995) is also an
interesting specimen of this subgenre.

Elizabeth Gaskell's tales "The Doom of the Griffiths" (1858) "Lois the Witch", and "The Grey
Woman" all employ one of the most common themes of Gothic fiction, the power of ancestral
sins to curse future generations, or the fear that they will.

The gloomy villain, forbidding mansion, and persecuted heroine of Sheridan Le Fanu's Uncle
Silas (1864) shows the direct influence of both Walpole's Otranto and Radcliffe's Udolpho. Le
Fanu's short story collection In a Glass Darkly (1872) includes the superlative vampire
tale Carmilla, which provided fresh blood for that particular strand of the Gothic and
influenced Bram Stoker'svampire novel Dracula (1897). According to literary critic Terry
Eagleton, Le Fanu, together with his predecessor Maturin and his successor Stoker, form a sub-
genre of Irish Gothic, whose stories, featuring castles set in a barren landscape, with a cast of
remote aristocrats dominating an atavistic peasantry, represent in allegorical form the political
plight of colonial Ireland subjected to theProtestant Ascendancy.[32]

The genre was also a heavy influence on more mainstream writers, such as Charles Dickens,
who read Gothic novels as a teenager and incorporated their gloomy atmosphere and
melodrama into his own works, shifting them to a more modern period and an urban setting,
including Oliver Twist (1837-8), Bleak House (1854) (Mighall 2003) and Great
Expectations (186061). These pointed to the juxtaposition of wealthy, ordered and affluent
civilisation next to the disorder and barbarity of the poor within the same metropolis. Bleak
House in particular is credited with seeing the introduction of urban fog to the novel, which
would become a frequent characteristic of urban Gothic literature and film (Mighall 2007). His
most explicitly Gothic work is his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which he did not live
to complete and which was published in unfinished state upon his death in 1870. The mood and
themes of the Gothic novel held a particular fascination for the Victorians, with their morbid
obsession with mourning rituals, mementos, and mortality in general.

Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) was a classic Gothic work of the 1880s,
seeing many stage adaptations.
The 1880s saw the revival of the Gothic as a powerful literary form allied to fin de siecle, which
fictionalized contemporary fears like ethical degeneration and questioned the social structures
of the time. Classic works of this Urban Gothic include Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), George du
Maurier's Trilby (1894), Richard Marsh's The Beetle: A Mystery (1897), Henry James' The Turn
of the Screw (1898), and the stories of Arthur Machen. The most famous Gothic villain
ever, Count Dracula was created by Bram Stoker in his novel Dracula (1897). Stoker's book
also established Transylvania and Eastern Europe as the locus classicus of the
Gothic.[33] Gaston Leroux's serialized novel The Phantom of the Opera (19091910) is another
well-known example of gothic fiction from the early twentieth century.

In America, two notable writers of the end of the 19th century, in the Gothic tradition,
were Ambrose Bierce and Robert W. Chambers. Bierce's short stories were in the horrific and
pessimistic tradition of Poe. Chambers, though, indulged in the decadent style of Wilde and
Machen, even to the extent of his inclusion of a character named 'Wilde' in his The King in
Yellow.

Parody[edit source | editbeta]

The excesses, stereotypes, and frequent absurdities of the traditional Gothic made it rich
territory for satire.[34] The most famous parody of the Gothic isJane Austen's novel Northanger
Abbey (1818) in which the naive protagonist, after reading too much Gothic fiction, conceives
herself a heroine of a Radcliffian romance and imagines murder and villainy on every side,
though the truth turns out to be much more prosaic. Jane Austen's novel is valuable for
including a list of early Gothic works since known as the Northanger Horrid Novels. These
books, with their lurid titles, were once thought to be the creations of Jane Austen's imagination,
though later research by Michael Sadleir andMontague Summers confirmed that they did
actually exist and stimulated renewed interest in the Gothic. They are currently all being
reprinted.[35]

Another example of Gothic parody in a similar vein is The Heroine by Eaton Stannard
Barrett (1813). Cherry Wilkinson, a fatuous female protagonist with a history of novel-reading,
fancies herself as the heroine of a Gothic romance. She perceives and models reality according
to the stereotypes and typical plot structures of the Gothic novel, leading to a series of absurd
events culminating in catastrophe. After her downfall, her affectations and excessive
imaginations become eventually subdued by the voice of reason in the form of Stuart, a paternal
figure, under whose guidance the protagonist receives a sound education and correction of her
misguided taste[36]