The%20Gothic%20Novel

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The Gothic Novel

• Background Notes
• Gothic Elements

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Gothic

• Who are Goths?
• What do you know about Goths?
• Where are Goths from?

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The Goths

• a Germanic tribe that originated
  in Sweden and spread through Europe
• Reached the height of their power around 5th
  century A.D., when they sacked Rome and captured
  Spain, but their history finally subsumed under
  that of the countries they conquered.

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Connection to the Gothic Novel?

• Centuries passed before the word "gothic" meant
  anything else again.
• During the Renaissance, Europeans rediscovered
  Greco-Roman culture and began to regard a
  particular type of architecture, mainly those
  built during the Middle Ages, as "gothic"
• No connection to the Goths, but they were
  considered barbaric and not in Classical (Roman)
  style
• In the 1800s, "gothic" came to describe a certain
  type of novels, because all these novels seem to
  take place in Gothic-styled architecture --
  mainly castles, mansions, and, of course, abbeys
  ("Gothic...").

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The Gothic Novel

• Gothic novel took shape mostly in England from
  1790 to 1830. It falls within the category of
  Romantic literature.
• But it is a reaction against the rigidity and
  formality of other forms of Romantic literature.
• The Gothic novel is not limited to this time
  period - it takes its roots from former
  terrorizing writing that dates back to the Middle
  Ages, and can still be found written today by
  writers such as Stephen King.

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Beauty the Beast
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Conventions of Gothic Literature

1. A hero whose birth is enshrouded in mystery.
2. Restless ghosts groaning for revenge.
3. Forbidding cliffs, stormy seas (eerie settings)
4. Ancient manuscripts rediscovered produces a
   narration which gives an air of strangeness to
   the exotic setting.
5. Incest
6. Characters can often communicate psychically.
7. Often concerned with the possibility of returning
   to life after death.

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Conventions, Continued

1. Problem of evil presented as a psychological
   problem
2. Castle or house identified with its owner
3. Characters exhibit overwhelming guilt or pride.
4. Good characters are usually physically lovely
   evil characters have twisted bodies and ugly
   faces.
5. The idyllic life in nature invaded and destroyed
   by a dark ambiguous force.
6. Animals respond to a supernatural presence.

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More gothic elements

1. Metonymy of gloom and horror. Example Rain at a
   funeral
2. Terrifying things occur at night, usually after
   midnight.
3. Story often concerned with injustice.
4. Magic mirrors in which one can see anyone he
   wishes.
5. Moving statues and pictures.
6. Madness (insanity) often occurs.

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Gothic Elements, the last ones

• Dreaded secrets.
• Inexplicable music.
• Heroine is usually beautiful and virtuous, often
  an orphan and given to swooning and weeping.
• Hero usually has a vague past, is basically good
  but has a flaw.
• Characters usually not drawn realistically, may
  not even be believable.
• Fatal/tortured love

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Gothic Terms (Test Material)

• Antithesis (Greek Setting opposite) brings
  out the contrast in a setting, person, or idea.
• Example "When there is need of silence, you
  speak, and when there is need of speech, you are
  dumb when you are present, you wish to be
  absent, and when absent, you desire to be
  present in peace you are for war, and in war you
  long for peace in council you descant on
  bravery, and in the battle you tremble."

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Gothic Terms Continued

• Doppelgänger - (German Double Walker) a
  paranormal double of a person usually bringing
  misfortune or evil. Legend says if you see your
  doppelgänger you will die shortly after.
• Notable figures Percy Bysshe Shelley, John
  Donne, Abraham Lincoln, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Gothic Terms Continued

• Grotesque (Latin Grotto meaning Little
  Cave) In the 18th century in French, German, and
  English writing it came to refer to the
  fantastic, ugly, unpleasant or disgusting.
• Characters are usually considered grotesque if
  they invoke both empathy and disgust.

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Gothic Terms Continued

• Satanic / Promethean Hero An over-reacher who
  unsettles traditional moral catagories.
  Originates from the Myth of Prometheus.
• Famous Promethean Hero John Miltons Satan from
  Paradise Lost

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Myth of Prometheus
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Gothic Terms Continued

• The Sublime Attributed to the Greek writer
  Longinus. Refers to Longinus defines the literary
  sublime as "excellence in language," the
  "expression of a great spirit" and the power to
  provoke "ecstasy" in one's readers. Can also be
  used to invoke terror.
• Example. . .

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Beowulf
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Gothic Novel Continued

• the pursued protagonist - Refers to the idea of
  a pursuing force that relentlessly acts in a
  severely negative manner on a character.  This
  persecution often implies the notion of some sort
  of a curse or other form of terminal and utterly
  unavoidable damnation, a notion that usually 
  suggests a return or "hangover" of traditional
  religious ideology to chastise the character for
  some real or imagined wrong against the moral
  order.