Gothic elements in literature

Gothic elements in literature

1. Setting in a castle

2. Atmosphere of mystery and suspense

3. Ancient prophesy

4. Omens, portents and visions

5. Supernatural or inexplicable events

6. High emotion

7. Women in distress, threatened by a tyrannical male

8. Metonymy of horror

   • Metonymy is a subtype of metaphor, in which something like rain stands for something like sorrow
   • Examples
     • Wind, especially howling
     • Doors on rusty hinges
     • Footsteps approaching
     • Lights in abandoned rooms
     • Characters trapped in a room
     • Ruins of buildings
     • Thunder and lightining
     • Rain, especially blowing
     • Sights, moans, howls, eerie sounds
     • Clanking chains
     • Gusts of wind blowing out lights
     • Doors suddenly slamming shut
     • Baying of distant dogs/wolves
     • Crazed laughter

9. Vocabulary of Gothic

   • Mystery
   • Fear, terror, or sorrow
   • Suprise
   • Haste
   • Anger
   • Largeness
   • Darkness