Gothic Horror

Alongside studying the Victorians, I wanted to research Gothic Horror, and all that surrounds it. As a genre of literature, it combines dark horror with romance. Titles such as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein immediately come to mind with the words Gothic Horror, but infact it is believed to have been initially created by English author Horace Walpole, with his novel 'The Castle of Otranto' written in 1764. Walpole used exotic landscapes and distant times within his literature, but character that the reader can relate to. Ann Radcliffe's 'Mysteries of Uldolpho' also feature this. Dickens on the other hand, used contemporary landscapes such as the buzzing London City, with typical motives. More readers in this time could relate to these, which is why I believe Dickens was such a successful author. Gothic Horror creates this thrill of the horror that us readers feed off, making it a very popular genre. Characters include vampires, werewolves, zombies, fallen angels and the Devil himself. Typical motifs are:

• Strange Landscapes
• Clashing time periods
• Power and constraint
• A world of doubt
• Terror Vs Horror
• Sexual Power
• The Uncanny
• The Sublime
• Crisis
• The Supernatural and the Real

The sense of the unknown is what hooks readers into the books, I know first hand as Gothic Literature is my favourite, in particular The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill, written in 1983. This book has recently become subject to two films, starring Daniel Radcliffe, and have been very successful, as well as a TV Film in 1989 by Nigel Kneale, and has been adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt, which has become the second longest running play in the West End.

The Woman in Black Promo 2012.

(Robert Harris, 20th December 2013, 'Elements of the Gothic Novel' (online), [viewed 21st January 2015], available from Virtual Salt)