Repression - self becomes ‘other’ to commit repressed desires [abjection and the doppelganger, or as in Macbeth, he becomes the monster, ‘To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself"
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Style
gothic literature tends towards the sensational. It is introspective with psychological connotations and has overtones of the savage or barbarous. Often the symbolism of light and darkness is employed.
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Extreme landscapes
exotic/foreign settings sometimes from the past, rugged mountains, thick forests, storms, thunder and lightning. See the ‘Sublime’
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Transgression
class, gender and moral boundaries are crossed. Often gothic literature blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy.
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Fate
- questioning and denial of fate, the higher powers and natural order
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Signs and portents foreshadowing evil
nature, visions, dreams, omens; ghosts, demons, monsters and witches.
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Doppelganger
a second self which often haunts and threatens the rational psyche of the victim to whom they become attached.
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Forbidden knowledge/power
the Gothic protagonist’s goal. The Gothic "hero" questions the universe’s ambiguous nature and tries to comprehend / control those powers that mortals cannot understand.
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Monster/Satanic Hero/Fallen Man
a courageous search for forbidden knowledge or power always leads the hero to a fall, a corruption, or destruction. Consequently, the hero in Gothic literature is often a "villain."
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Multiple Narrative/Spiral Narrative Method
the story is frequently told through a series of secret manuscripts or multiple tales, each revealing a deeper secret, so the narrative gradually spirals inward toward the hidden truth.
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Multiple Narrative/Spiral Narrative Method, continued
The narrator is often a first-person narrator compelled to tell the story to a fascinated or captive listener (representing the captivating power of forbidden knowledge) and can often be unreliable.
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Multiple Narrative/Spiral Narrative Method, continued
The use of documents such as letters or diaries adds verisimilitude to the Gothic anti-realist narrative making the text all the more plausible/frightening.
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Dreams/Visions
terrible truths are often revealed to characters through dreams or visions.
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Dreams/Visions, continued
The hidden knowledge of the universe and of human nature emerges through dreams because when the person sleeps, reason sleeps, and the supernatural, unreasonable world can break through.
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Dreams/Visions, continued
Dreams in Gothic literature express the dark, unconscious depths of the psyche that are repressed by reason (see Freud).
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Entrapment
a favourite horror device of the Gothic finds a person confined or trapped, such as being shackled to a floor or hidden away in some dark cell or cloister. This sense of there being no way out contributes to the claustrophobic of Gothic space.
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The Female Gothic
often aims to socialize and educate its female readers and is usually morally conservative. Yet the Female Gothic can also express criticism of patriarchal, male-dominated structures and serve as an expression of female independence
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The Female Gothic, continued
This form is often centered on gender differences and oppression. Female Gothic works usually include a female protagonist who is pursued and persecuted by a villainous patriarchal figure in unfamiliar settings and terrifying landscapes.
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The Female Gothic, continued
While achieving a considerable degree of terror and chills, the Female Gothic usually eschews the more overt and graphic scenes of violence and sexual perversion found in Male Gothic literature.
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The presence and absence of women
we have either the binary oppositions of the female gothic monster [anxieties on female power] or the marginalised, passive victim [female gothic].
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The presence and absence of women, continued
Victor Frankenstein usurps the power of gendered Nature and women. Both Walton and Victor discover and quest whilst the female characters are chained to the domestic prison.
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Terror vs. Horror
The essence of terror stimulates the imagination and often challenges reasoning to arrive at a somewhat plausible explanation of ambiguous fears and anxieties.
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Terror vs. Horror, continued
Resolution of terror provides a means of escape. Works of horror are constructed from a maze of alarmingly concrete imagery designed to induce fear, shock, revulsion, and disgust.
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Terror vs. Horror, continued
Horror appeals to lower mental faculties, such as curiosity and voyeurism. Elements of horror render the reader incapable of resolution and subject the reader's mind to a ....
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Possession
can either be voluntary or involuntary.
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Possession, continued
Voluntary possession seems to involve a willing exchange in the form of some compact between evil spirit and mortal, often involving wealth, power or goods; involuntary possession occurs when the devil randomly selects an unwitting host.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Repression - self becomes ‘other’ to commit repressed desires [abjection and the doppelganger, or as in Macbeth, he becomes the monster, ‘To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself"
Back
Repression
Card 3
Front
gothic literature tends towards the sensational. It is introspective with psychological connotations and has overtones of the savage or barbarous. Often the symbolism of light and darkness is employed.
Back
Card 4
Front
exotic/foreign settings sometimes from the past, rugged mountains, thick forests, storms, thunder and lightning. See the ‘Sublime’
Back
Card 5
Front
class, gender and moral boundaries are crossed. Often gothic literature blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy.
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