Whats Your Favorite

Scary Movie
Think about a scary movie you
enjoy
What happensplot?
Where does it take placethe
setting?
Why do people like to be scared?
 The Dark
Romantics
Gothic Literature

1760-1820and
 Can we speak of
ghosts without
transforming the
whole world and
ourselves, too, into
phantoms?
Jean-Michale Rebat
The Origins of the term
Gothic (Gothick)
Gothic
Originally referred to the
northern Gothic tribes that
invaded Europe in the 4th,
5th, and 6th centuries
Later applied to Renaissance
architecture (critics thought
the style originated with the
Gothic tribe)
Was considered ugly, barbaric,
archaic
 Gothic Architecture
First Gothic Cathedral
build in 1144
Gargoyles (originally
for religious
buildings)
Vaulted ceilings

Structural ribbing
(skeletal)
Stained glass
Art Influences

The Nightmare
Johann Heinrick Fuseli
 The Beginning
1764- Horace Walpole publishes The Castle
of Otranto: A Gothic Story anonymously
Contains essentially all the elements
associated with the genre
Best-seller
Had remodeled his home in Gothick style
Said that the inspiration of his story was a
dream that was so haunting, he had to write it
down
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
1. Setting
Action takes place in or
around an old castle
Seems abandoned, or
broken down
Has secret passages,
doors, rooms
Usually very large, but
seems claustrophobic
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
2. An atmosphere of mystery or
suspense
Feeling of being threatened or fearful

Plot is built around a mystery (such as

unknown parentage, a disappearance,
or some other inexplicable event)

This is achieved by the next three

elements
Elements of Gothic
Literature
3. An ancient
prophecy
Usually connected
with the castle or its
inhabitants
Obscure, partial, or
confusing
The characters
struggle to
understand
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
4. Omens, visions
Character may have a disturbing dream/vision
Some phenomenon may be seen as an omen of
coming events
If the statue of the lord of the manor falls over, it
may predict his death
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
5. Supernatural or otherwise
inexplicable events
Dramatic or amazing events occur
Such as ghosts or giants, 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
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
6. High, overwrought emotion
Narration may be highly sentimental
Characters are often overcome by anger,
sorrow, surprise, and especially, terror.
Suffer from raw nerves and a feelings of
impending doom
Crying and emotional speeches are frequent
Breathlessness and panic are common
 Elements of Gothic
7. Women in Literature
distress
Female characters often face
events that leave them fainting,
terrified, screaming, and/or
sobbing
Lonely, pensive, and oppressed
heroine, often the central figure
Her sufferings are even more
pronounced and the focus of
attention than the other
characters in the story
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
8. Women threatened by a
powerful, tyrannical male
A male character (king, lord
of the manor, father) has the
power to demand the female
character/s do something
intolerable
May be commanded to marry
someone she does not love , or
commit a crime, keeps her
locked away
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
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).
Metaphors use words. Metonymy uses
images and sound
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
Wind, especially howling Rain
Doors grating on rusty Sighs, moans, howls
hinges
Clanking chains
Footsteps approaching
Gusts of wind blowing
Lights in abandoned
out lights rooms
Characters trapped in a Doors suddenly
room slamming shut
Baying of dogs (or Crazed laughter
wolves)
Children
Thunder and/or lightning
 Elements of Gothic
Literature
10. Unreliable Narrator
Character telling the
story isnt trustworthy
Villain narrates
Narrator is or goes
insane as the story
goes on
Narrator has limited
information
 Is your movie Gothic?
Setting
Mystery
Ancient prophecy
Omen/Vision
Supernatural
High emotion
Women in distress
Women being threatened by man
Metonymy
Unreliable narrator
 Examples
The Ring Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=_6HaoRFgSUw
GEICO ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWv
-dIUP9oc
 Criticism
Gothic tradition has not been very
highly regarded
Attracted many big writers: Keats,
Melville, Faulkner
but it is usually not these works that are
highlighted
Women also wrote in this genre
Jane Austin (Northanger Abbey), Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley (Frankenstein)
 Revivals
1818: Frankenstein
1897: Dracula
1960s: Gothic was the best-selling
mass market fiction
1970-present: Stephen King
2005: biggest money making movie
genre, averaging $75 million per
movie in box office sales
The Master: Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is the
master of gothic
literature
He is famous for this use
of personal tragedies,
especially with women,
in his work
Poe is most popular
because of his mastery of
fear, suspense, and death
 Poes biography
As most authors do, Poe used his
personal life as motivation to write
 Poe
With the exception of The Raven, not
famous in his own time
His literary criticism made him more enemies
He didnt make much money on his writing

Died of unknown causes, destitute and alone

Shortly after his death, rival author/frenemy

Rufus Griswold set out to ruin Poe's
reputation with a lurid biography that
painted him as a drug user and madman.
The scheme backfired when Poe's sales
skyrocketed and a legend was born.
 Works Used
Bayer-Berenbaum, Linda. Elements of a Gothic. Horror. Ed. Michael
Stuprich. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001. 72-83.

Door: Metal: Squeaky Metal Restroom Door in Building: Close: Slow Creak.
Sound Ideas. 2007.
Unitedstreaming. 17 April 2007. http://www.unitedstreaming.com/>.

The Gothic Imagination. Ruthford: Associated University Press, Ltd., 1982.

Gothic Architecture. Wikipedia Online. 2005. 6 March 2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture.

Harris, Robert. Elements of the Gothic Novel. VirtualSalt. 2005. 6 March

2005.
http://www.virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm.

Williams, Anne. The Gothic Novel. Horror. Ed. Michael Stuprich. San Diego:
Greenhaven Press, 2001. 62-71.

Wolfreys, Julian. Victoria Haunting: Spectrality, Gothic, the Uncanny and

Literature.
Houndsmills: Palgrave, 2001.