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 Wild, supernatural,

architecture of the Irregular, barbarous, in the sense of
12th-14th centuries opposed to mysterious
Classicism

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The Gothic novel

2. Influences

Industrial exploitation

•
Destruction of the single human being

The 18th-century •
Man as a slave to forces he could not control
society
•
Gothic symbols as denunciation of social
problems

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The Gothic novel

2. Influences

•
As a celebration of terror

•
As a rejection of constraints
The “sublime” and limits

•
As exploration of forbidden
areas

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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, Jonathan Barry, Udolpho Castle, 1993, private collection.

gloomy atmosphere.

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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.

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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

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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

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The Gothic novel

5. The language
Semantic
areas Words
enchantment, ghost, haunted, infernal, magic,
Mystery
secret, spectre, vision

agony, anguish, apprehensions, despair, dread,

Fear/ Terror/ fearing, frightened, hopeless, horror, melancholy,
Sorrow 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
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The Gothic novel

6. First Gothic authors

•
Horace Walpole  The Castle of Otranto (1764)

•
Ann Radcliffe  The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)

•
Matthew Lewis  The Monk (1796)

•
Mary Shelley  Frankenstein (1818)

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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

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