INTRODUCTION TO THE

GOTHIC NOVEL
By Meltem Vardal

PhD candidate in English at Ankara University

T H E O I L PA I N T I N G “ T H E N I G H T M A R E ” B Y H E N RY F U S E L I I N
1781
 W H AT I S T H E G O T H I C N O V E L ?

 A genre of fiction popular in the late 18th to early 19th centuries, characterized
by an atmosphere of mystery and horror and a medieval setting.
 blending the elements of realist fiction with the supernatural and fantastical
(Fantastic situations wih supposedly real people)
 INFLUENCES CONTRIBUTING TO
GROWTH OF THE GOTHIC NOVEL

The 18th century was the Age of Reason (Enlightenment) which was a philosophical
and intellectual movement and included a range of ideas centered on reason as the
primary source of knowledge and ideals such as liberty, progress, separation of church
and state.
“medieval revival” that stood against the Enlightenment’s focus on reason.
French Revolution (1789 – 99)
The Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages.

(irregularly placed towers, and high stained-glass windows were intended to inspire awe
and fear in religious worshipers)
 ORIGINS

When examined through literary sources and critical voices,

gothic novel is usually accepted as having revealed itself as a genre
with Horace Walpole’s work The Castle of Otranto in the 18th
century.
THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO BY HORACE
WA L P O L E ( 1 7 6 4 )
 PLACE AND TIME

enclosed claustrophobic places

wild and remote landscapes

 CASTLE

Once you are inside it is labyrinth, it is impossible

to find one’s way around, there is always
darkness, there is always the threat of falling
through a trapdoor or finding oneself in a lower
level.
These are scenarios unlike the conventional
house, in which there are no real maps you can
never tell exactly how to get out, you can
certainly never remember exactly how you got in.
So these are scenarios of imprisonment. They’re
also scenarios of claustrophobia or being unable
to escape, the threat of being buried alive.
PATRIARCHAL POWER

Powerful tyrant vs. vulnerable woman

 SEXUAL POWER

Perverse, strange, dangerous kinds of sexuality

incest, same sex desire, rape

 THE UNCANNY

a term that comes from Sigmund Freud.

Dictionary meaning: mysterious or strange in an unsettling way.

Sigmund states that it is in fact the psychological experience of
something as strangely familiar, rather than simply mysterious. It
may describe incidents where a familiar thing or event is
encountered in an unsettling, spooky or taboo context.

e.g. dolls, wax works, vampires, supernatural beings

 CRISIS

tends to appear at moments of political and social crisis

increase in the number of Gothic novels written

in the 1790s
 T H E S U P E R N AT U R A L A N D T H E R E A L

Monsters, demons, witches, ghosts, banshees, vampires, and other

supernatural creatures often play parts in Gothic fiction.

two different types of gothic

uses the supernatural and gives natural or realistic

expects us to believe in it explanation to it
(Ann Radcliffe)
 ELEMENTS AND CONVENTIONS

The setting- castle, old haunted house, monasteries, cemetery, forest, locked/unlocked rooms /wild landscape

(alludes to a style of grand, ornate architecture in France in the 12th century. In Gothic lit, you see lots of haunted houses, cobwebbed castles, derelict churches, and other once-
glorious architecture that has fallen into disrepair. You also see dark, cramped, and claustrophobic interiors with hidden doors and secret passageways, settings with hidden
skeletons. The outside world in Gothic literature is usually portrayed as being a dark, wild, and treacherous place full of wrathful weather, malevolent forests, and ghostly
graveyards.)

Atmosphere – mystery &suspense

(a threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown. This atmosphere is sometimes advanced when characters see only a glimpse of something--was that a person rushing out
the window or only the wind blowing a curtain? Is that creaking sound coming from someone's step on the squeaky floor, or only the normal sounds of the night? Often the plot
itself is built around a mystery, such as unknown parentage, a disappearance, or some other inexplicable event. People disappear or show up dead inexplicably.)

The relation between genders

Labyrinths /Passageways

Horror

Supernatural or other unexplainable events (ghosts, strange noises, animate objects like a painting)

High emotion ( dramatic reactions, strong feelings: anger, surprise, terror, screaming, weeping)

Transgression: it does not respect a clear differentiation, it always tries to get over certain boundaries and taboos. (incest-sexual perversion etc.)
 CHARACTERS

Dark and alluring villain/tyrant

Woman in distress (Heroine) threatened by male: needs a

protector, alone, weak, lost, frightened, vulnerable, fainting
Saviour - Hero
STRAWBERRY HILL HOUSE
Horace Walpole’s house in London.
 WA L P O L E ’ S D R E A M

One night when he’s asleep in his bedroom upstairs and dreams
of a gigantic armoured fist appearing on the staircase and that
inspires him to write The Castle of Otranto. This is published in
1764 and begins this enormously powerful tradition that continues
to the present day in hundreds of books, television programmes and
films.
 THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO

Characters: Manfred, Isabella, Theodore

Setting: The Castle “Otranto”

 AN EXTRACT FROM THE CASTLE
OF OTRANTO

“It was now evening, the servant who conducted Isabella bore a torch before her. When they came to Manfred, who
was walking impatiently about the gallery, he started and said hastily, "Take away that light, and begone." Then
shutting the door impetuously, he flung himself upon a bench against the wall, and bade Isabella sit by him. She
obeyed trembling. "I sent for you, lady," said he, — and then stopped under great appearance of confusion. "My lord!"
— "Yes, I sent for you on a matter of great moment," resumed he, — "Dry your tears, young lady — you have lost
your bridegroom. — Yes, cruel fate! and I have lost the hopes of my race! — but Conrad was not worthy of your
beauty." — "How! my lord," said Isabella; "sure you do not suspect me of not feeling the concern I ought. My duty and
affection would have always — " "Think no more of him," interrupted Manfred; "he was a sickly puny child, and
heaven has perhaps taken him away that I might not trust the honours of my house on so frail a foundation. The line of
Manfred calls for numerous supports. My foolish fondness for that boy blinded the eyes of my prudence — but it is
better as it is. I hope in a few years to have reason to rejoice at the death of Conrad.” (Walpole 58)
 AN EXTRACT FROM THE CASTLE
OF OTRANTO

"I desired you once before," said Manfred angrily, "not to name that woman: from this hour she must be a stranger to you, as she
must be to me; — in short, Isabella, since I cannot give you my son, I offer you myself." — "Heavens!" cried Isabella, waking from
her delusion, "what do I hear! You! My lord! You! My father-in-law! the father of Conrad! the husband of the virtuous and tender
Hippolita!" — "I tell you," said Manfred imperiously, "Hippolita is no longer my wife; I divorce her from this hour. Too long has she
cursed me by her unfruitfulness: my fate depends on having sons, — and this night I trust will give a new date to my hopes." At those
words he seized the cold hand of Isabella, who was half-dead with fright and horror. She shrieked and started from him. Manfred rose
to pursue her… At that instant the portrait of his grandfather, which hung over the bench where they had been sitting, uttered a deep
sigh, and heaved its breast. Isabella, whose back was turned to the picture, saw not the motion, nor knew whence the sound came, but
started, and said, "Hark, my lord! What sound was that?" and at the same time made towards the door. Manfred, distracted between
the flight of Isabella, who had now reached the stairs, and yet unable to keep his eyes from the picture, which began to move, had
however advanced some steps after her, still looking backwards on the portrait, when he saw it quit its panel, and descend on the
floor with a grave and melancholy air. "Do I dream?" cried Manfred returning, "or are the devils themselves in league against me?
Speak, infernal spectre! or, if thou art my grandsire, why dost thou too conspire against thy wretched descendant, who too dearly pays
for —” (Walpole 59)
 AN EXTRACT FROM THE CASTLE
OF OTRANTO

“That lady, whose resolution had given way to terror the moment she had quitted Manfred, continued
her flight to the bottom of the principal staircase. There she stopped, not knowing whither to direct her
steps, nor how to escape from the impetuosity of the prince. The gates of the castle she knew were
locked, and guards placed in the court. Should she, as her heart prompted her, go and prepare Hippolita
for the cruel destiny that awaited her, she did not doubt but Manfred would seek her there, and that his
violence would incite him to double the injury he meditated, without leaving room for them to avoid the
impetuosity of his passions…Yet where conceal herself? how avoid the pursuit he would infallibly make
throughout the castle? As these thoughts passed rapidly through her mind, she recollected a
subterraneous passage which led from the vaults of the castle to the church of St. Nicholas. Could she
reach the altar before she was overtaken.. she seized a lamp that burned at the foot of the staircase, and
hurried towards the secret passage. ” (Walpole 60)
SOME EXAMPLES FOR THE 18TH
C E N T U RY G O T H I C N O V E L S

Vathek by William Beckford (1786)

The Castle of Wolfenbach by Eliza Parsons (1793)

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (1794)

The Italian by Ann Radcliffe (1797)

The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1796)

 C O M M O N V O C A B U L A RY F O R G O T H I C
NOVEL

Mystery: diabolical, enchantment, ghost, goblins, haunted, infernal, magic, magician, miracle, necromancer, omens,
ominous, portent,preternatural, prodigy, prophecy, secret, sorcerer, spectre, spirits, strangeness, talisman, vision
Fear, Terror, or Sorrow: afflicted, affliction, agony, anguish, apprehensions, apprehensive,
commiseration, concern, despair, dismal, dismay, dread, dreaded, dreading, fearing, frantic, fright, frightened, grief,
hopeless, horrid, horror, lamentable, melancholy, miserable, mournfully, panic, sadly, scared, shrieks, sorrow, sympathy,
tears, terrible, terrified, terror,
unhappy, wretched
Surprise: alarm, amazement, astonished, astonishment, shocking, staring, surprise, surprised, thunderstruck, wonder
Haste: anxious, breathless, flight, frantic, hastened, hastily, impatience, impatient, impatiently, impetuosity, precipitately,
running, sudden, suddenly
Anger: anger, angrily, choler, enraged, furious, fury, incense, incensed, provoked, rage, raving, resentment, temper, wrath,
wrathful, wrathfully
Largeness: enormous, gigantic, giant, large, tremendous, vast

Elements of the Gothic Novel, http://www.virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm (2 of 4)

THANK YOU