British Literature Survey
Reference Pages: Brontë Sisters Group

Gothic Literature
by Kate Carmichael

Gothic compositions and screenplays are pieces of work that correspond to the Romantic period. Gothic is a term acknowledged by the 18th century proponents of the gothic revival and is the precursor to modern horror fiction. “Gothic was a popular term that abandoned the rationality and clarity of the neoclassical style of the Enlightened Establishment” (Wikipedia). Originally it was used in reference to a style of medieval art and architecture which set the standard for the typical definition of “gothic;” dark and horrific. “Gothic fiction is a literature of nightmare,” (MacAndrew 3) and typically includes specific elements such as “death, demons, medieval castles, lunacy, the supernatural,” (Botting and Townshend 191) and many more. This certain aspect of pleasurable terror is commonly displayed in this type of literature, “presently seen in Victorian literature such as Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights” (Bloom 6). Gothic works are medieval with blends of cruelty, sadistic thought, eroticism, and dismay. These imperative components help reveal the whole purpose of gothic fiction which is to “educate the reader’s feelings through his identification with the feelings of the characters” (MacAndrew 3). The detailed and intriguing form gothic literature takes on helps animate the fantastic and mysterious stories we read about today.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. The Brontës. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.

Botting, Fred and Dale Townshend. Gothic: Critical Concepts In Literary And Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Gothic Novel. Wikipedia. 1/30/06. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_novel.

MacAndrew, Elizabeth. The Gothic Tradition In Fiction. New York: Columbia University Press: New York, 1924.

Paul Marchbanks
marchban@email.unc.edu