GOTHIC LITERATURE

What is Gothic?

A building such as a cathedral that has a style of

architecture that is distinguished by all pillars,
high vaulted ceiling and pointed arches.

is used to describe stories in which strange,

mysterious and adventurous happen in dark and
lonely places such as the ruins of a castle.

a style of printing or writing in which the letters

are very ornate.
 The word Gothic literature
refers to a mode of fiction
dealing with supernatural or
horrifying events.

The Gothic is termed in the dictionary
with crudity Gothic literature explores
the aggression between what we fear
and what we lust. The setting of these
Gothic stories was usually in some
kind of castle or old building that
showed human decay and created an
atmosphere of mystery and suspense.
Gothic literature dealing with demons
and abnormal states of mind is not a
phenomenon of only medievalism and
romanticism, modernism and
perversion, death and destruction
resulting from political and social
aberrations; the fantasy is also a part
of the Gothic.
One of the key points in Gothicism is
the idea that something is either
extremely grotesque to the point of
being ugly or that the idea so widely
unaccepted that it is proclaimed as a
sin against either humanity or the
church.

This statement separates man and

God and indicates the fallen state of
man. The dark Gothic style surrounds
death. Sometimes, the Gothic is anti-
human or anti-social.
 Horace Walpole In literature
The word „Goth‟ applied the word especially in
and „Gothic‟ Gothic in his Gothicism the
novel The Castle Gothic literature
described the setting is
of Otranto: A was said to be
Germanic tribes greatly
Gothic Story born in 1764. It
who sacked Rome influential. It
(1765). From this originated in the
and ravaged the not only
novel filled with 18th century,
rest of Europe in evokes the
scenes of terror flourished in the
3rd, 4th and 5th atmosphere of
and gloom in a 19th century and
centuries. From horror and
medieval setting continues to
this source, the dread, but also
descended a thrive even today.
word Gothic came portrays the
to mean barbarous. literary genre still deterioration of
popular today. its world.
characteristics
 SETTING AND ATMOSPHERE

OLD,
Castles or great
RUNDOWN
STRUCTURES country manors

OTHER
FEATURES

 Hidden passages
 Trap doors
 Winding stairs
 Dungeons or secret
rooms
 Gargoyles as
decoration
 A flickering candle
 BLEAK, FOREBODING
ENVIRONMENTS

 Dark and dense forests

 Imposing mountains
 Foggy moors
 Gloomy and stormy weather
 Caves
 Temples
 Mounds
 Catacombs
 Churchyards
 Crypts
 Areas far away from
civilization

suspense, mystery, horror, or

ATMOSPHERE
dread
 PROTAGONIST

 It can be self-
ISOLATED imposed.
OR ALONE ISOLATION
 As a result of
circumstances
beyond their
control.

Physical isolation Emotional isolation

Trapped in a house Cut off from the
far from civilization. people around their.
 EMOTIONS

Characters are often Women are often

passionate and strong- curious and have a
willed, defying others tendency to swoon,
or even their own while men storm and
common sense in rage in reflection of
pursuit of their goals. unseen inner
torments.
Emotions run high
for both male and
Examples include female characters.
The events
murders, emphasize high
kidnappings, emotion and often
people going mad reflect a
and tragic heightened sense
illnesses. of drama.
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS

 The "damsel in distress" motif appears

quite often in Gothic literature, with
women threatened by tyrannical men or
just the circumstances in which they find
themselves.
 They often appear frightened and may
suffer from some kind of ailment.
 SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS

Supernatural elements often

appear in Gothic literature,
particularly ghosts and
unexplained manifestations.

In some Gothic novels,

elements ultimately have a
rational explanation, but the
implication always suggest
something that isn‟t from this
world. Other such beings may
include apparitions, monsters,
demons, and vampires.
 DECAY

 The overall impression of a

Gothic world is one of decay:
a formerly great family,
community, country or
individual who has peaked
and now begins a slow
process of decline.

 This appears both in the

landscape (crumbling
buildings) and in the
characters themselves.
 FRAGMENTATION

Tortuous, fragmented, incomplete narratives

relating mysterious incidents, horrible images, life-
threatening pursuits, fear of imprisonment,
entrapment, rape, personal violation, triumph of
evil over good & chaos over order.
authors
HORACE WALPOLE

The father of Gothic

literature
MARY SHELLEY
BRAM STOKER (1847-1912)

He is best known as the author of

Dracula (1897).

Stoker wrote adventure novel,

romances, works of horror and
numerous pieces of short fiction.
Stoker composed Dracula as an
epistolary novel comprised of journal
entries, letters, newspaper clippings;
ships log book and phonograph
recordings.
 DRACULA

Dracula is an 1897
Gothic horror
novel by Irish
author Bram
Stoker.

And of the battle It introduced the

between Dracula character of Count
and a small group Dracula, and
of men and a established many
woman led by conventions of
Professor Abraham subsequent
Van Helsing. vampire fantasy.
The novel tells the
story of Dracula's
attempt to move
from Transylvania
to England so that
he may find new
blood and spread
the undead curse.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
(1850-1894)

He is a best-known Scottish novelist and

short story writer.

He is best known for his outstanding

work of supernatural horror The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde (1886).

His famous stories of piracy and horror

have placed him at the forefront of
writers of romance.

His fiction is still considered seminal to the

late 19th century development of adventure
romance and Gothic literature.
 DR. JEKYLL AND
MR. HYDE

The novella's impact

is such that it has
It is about a London
become a part of the
legal practitioner
language, with the
named Gabriel
phrase "Jekyll and
Utterson who
Hyde" entering the
investigates strange
vernacular to refer to
occurrences between
people with an
his old friend, Dr
unpredictably dual
Henry Jekyll, and the
nature: usually very
evil Edward Hyde.
good, but sometimes
shockingly evil.
 In Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde, Dr Jekyll is a
well-respected,
intelligent scientist
who secretly has a
dark, immoral side
to his personality.

Stevenson writes
about the duality of
human nature – the
idea that every
single human being
has good and evil
within them.
ANN RADCLIFFE (1764-1823)

She transformed the Gothic novel from a mere

vehicle for the depiction of terror into an
instrument for exploring the psychology of fear
and suspense.

With Radcliffe, Gothic fiction became a craze.

Her enormous popularity was associated with a
number of innovations.

She is a key figure in the Gothic tradition that

freed the collective English literary imagination
from conventional and rational constraints and
ushered in English Romanticism.
THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO

 Radcliffe‟s best known novel is “The

Mysteries of Udolpho”.

 It tells the story of Emily St. Aubert, the

daughter of a wealthy French family
whose fortunes have declined. Many
strange and fearful events take place in
the haunted atmosphere of the solitary
castle of Udolpho.

 This novel contains all of the classic

Gothic elements including a haunted
castle, a troubled heroine, a mysterious
and menacing male figure, and hidden
secrets of the past.
 OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900)

 He is one of the foremost figures of late

nineteenth century decadence.

 He was part of the "art for art's sake“, a

movement in English literature at the end
of the nineteenth century by seeking to
subordinate moral, political, social
concerns in art to matters of aesthetic
value.

 Wilde‟s most famous novel is “The

Picture of Dorian Gray”.

Dorian Gray
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

Dorian Gray is a beautiful young man who

wants to keep his youth forever. By this
reason, he is captured in an enchanted painting
that keeps him from aging. As time goes by,
this picture becomes tainted with every sin he
commits, while he remains young and
beautiful.