Traditional Gothic

● Setting in a castle or mansion.

● An atmosphere of mystery and suspense.
● An ancient prophecy
● Omens, portents, visions.
● Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events.
● High, even overwrought emotion.
● Women in distress.
● Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male.
● The metonymy of gloom and horror.
● The vocabulary of the gothic.

Modern Gothic
● Gloomy and Scary environment
● Supernatural events
● Psychological Horror
● Characters with a dubious morality
● Abnormal elements in modern concepts
● Intense emotions and relationships
● Past horrors and traumas

Differences between modern and traditional gothic

literature
● The huge mansions and castles are replaced with small American houses or an
urban flat.
● The modern gothic is less focused on women being in distress. The distress is on
both men and women.
● In modern gothic literature past horrors or traumas are over and above the traditional
gothic literature.
● The abnormal elements in modern gothic literature are presented in modern
concepts. So rather than the character being involved in magic the character is
involved in lab experiments, chemicals, unknown well developed machines …