Dark Romantic (Gothic) Elements

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Dark Romantic (Gothic) Elements
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Gothic Origins

• The scary stories that we enjoy today had their
  first flowering in English literature in the
  beginning of the l9th century.

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Gothic Origins

• At that time, such scary stories and novels were
  termed Gothic to refer

back to the Middle Ages, a time seen as barbaric
(the original meaning of gothic), unlike the
enlightened time of the present.
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Gothic Elements

• The following elements were likely to be found
  in the l9th century.

You can expect to find this sort of thing in most
of Edgar Allen Poes work, including his
detective stories.
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Symbolism

• Dark Romantics always use symbols
• Often in the title

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Mood

• Unlike Early Romantic stories, the emphasis is on
  creating a dark mood
• Created through imagery, setting, character
  subject matter

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Setting

• Wild and desolate landscapes

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Setting

• Ruined abbeys
• Feudal halls
• Medieval castles with dungeons
• Graveyards

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Setting

• Secret passages
• Winding staircases
• Sliding panels
• Torture chambers

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Underground rooms and tombs
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A Catholic or feudal society
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Supernatural elements
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A heroine with a trembling sensitivity and her
impetuous lover
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Heroines and heroes in incredible danger
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Characters

• Priests
• Monks
• Physicians

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• Wicked tyrants
• Evil witches
• Tyrannical older men

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Demonic powers
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Spooky effects and haunting specters
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• Sleep
• Dream death-like states

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Live burial
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Doubles/twins
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• Discovery of obscure family ties
• Incest

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Unnatural silences unspeakable ideas and events
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Guilt and shame and the effects of them
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Secret and undecipherable writings
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• Cats
• Bats
• Wolves

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Moonlight
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Oppressive atmosphere of doom
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Blood
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Murder
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Fear