Settings
Abandoned buildings - once glorious architecture that has fallen into disrepair
Isolating settings
Castles
Graveyards
Forests
Nighttime
Weather
Bad Weather
Storms
Weather that isolates the characters (eg, ice in Frankenstein)
The supernatural
‘the other’
ghosts, vampires, werewolves
Characters
The Maiden
The Villian
The anti-hero (The Gothic protagonist is often portrayed as a flawed, lonesome, isolated, or outcast, a figure who has to overcome obstacles to rejoin society)
The anti-villian (Just as the hero or protagonist is typically flawed in Gothic lit, the villain often has desirable qualities. Gothic lit likes to flirt with the boundary between good and evil and keep us guessing which is which.)
Byronic vs Satanic hero
The Past
romantisises the past
Often involves ancient family secrets
Common Devices, Themes, and Motifs
Curses, prophecies, hauntings, insanity, psychological flips
and twists, damsels in distress, women as victims, doppelgängers (evil twin), fallen societies
The Gothic as an exploration of romance and sexuality
During uptight Victorian times, Gothic literature allowed authors and readers to explore romance and sexuality, and transgressive thoughts, desires, and impulses,
Gothic sexuality is usually somewhat repressed (women=pure, men=predatory)
It’s also patriarchal, with men making moves and women reacting to them.
