The Gothic Novel
James Ward, Gordale Scar, 1814, London, Tate Gallery.
The Gothic novel
1. The origin of the name
It came to popularity at the end of the 18th century
The adjective “Gothic” 
three connotations
Medieval, linked to the
architecture of the
12th-14th centuries
Irregular, barbarous,
opposed to
Classicism
Only Connect ... New
Directions
Wild, supernatural,
in the sense of
mysterious
The Gothic novel
2. Influences
Industrial exploitation
The 18th-century
society
•
Destruction of the single human being
•
Man as a slave to forces he could not control
•
Gothic symbols as denunciation of social
problems
Only Connect ... New
Directions
The Gothic novel
2. Influences
•
•
The “sublime”
•
As a celebration of terror
As a rejection of constraints
and limits
As exploration of forbidden
areas
Only Connect ... New
Directions
The Gothic novel
3. The setting
•
•
Great importance given to
terror, characterised by
obscurity and uncertainty, and
horror, caused by evil and
atrocity.
Darkness necessary
ingredient for the mysterious,
gloomy atmosphere.
Only Connect ... New
Directions
Jonathan Barry, Udolpho Castle, 1993, private collection.
The Gothic novel
3. The setting
•
•
Ancient settings  isolated castles
and mysterious abbeys with
hidden passages, underground
cellars, secret rooms.
Catholic countries as the setting
for the most terrible crimes, due
to Protestant prejudices against
Catholicism.
A drawing depicting the Gothic staircase at Strawberry
Hill, near London.
Only Connect ... New
Directions
The Gothic novel
4. The characters
§
§
Characters  dominated
by exaggerated reactions
in front of mysterious
situations or events.
Supernatural beings 
vampires, monsters and
ghosts.
Henry Fuseli (Johann Heinrich Füssli),
The Nightmare, 1781, Goethe Museum, Frankfurt
Only Connect ... New
Directions
The Gothic novel
4. The characters
§
§
§
Sensitive heroes  they save
heroines.
Heroines  stricken by unreal
terrors and persecuted by the
villains.
Satanic, terrifying male
characters, victims of their
negative impulses.
Henry Fuseli (Johann Heinrich Füssli),
The Nightmare, 1781, Goethe Museum, Frankfurt
Only Connect ... New
Directions
The Gothic novel
5. The language
Semantic
areas
Words
Mystery
enchantment, ghost, haunted, infernal, magic,
secret, spectre, vision
Fear/ Terror/
Sorrow
agony, anguish, apprehensions, despair, dread,
fearing, frightened, hopeless, horror, melancholy,
miserable, panic, sadly, scared, shrieks, sorrow,
tears, terror, unhappy, wretched
Haste
anxious, breathless, frantic, hastily, impatient,
running, suddenly
Anger
anger, enraged, furious, rage, resentment, wrath
Largeness
enormous, gigantic, large, tremendous, vast
Only Connect ... New
Directions
The Gothic novel
6. First Gothic authors
•
Horace Walpole  The Castle of Otranto (1764)
•
Ann Radcliffe 
•
Matthew Lewis  The Monk (1796)
•
Mary Shelley  Frankenstein (1818)
The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)
Only Connect ... New
Directions
The Gothic novel
7. Popularity
•
•
Great interest during the 18th century common to all
strata of society.
The features of Gothic novels preserved in modern
and contemporary descendents of this genre in the
works of:
Charlotte Bronte
E. A. Poe
R. L. Stevenson
Bram Stoker
Only Connect ... New
Directions