This dynamic creates tension and appeals deeply to the reader's sense of pathos, particularly as these heroines typically tend to be orphaned, abandoned, or somehow severed from the world, without guardianship.

Virgin in distress: With the exception of a few novels, such as Sheridan Le Fanu’s 'Carmilla' (1872), most Gothic villains are powerful males who prey on young, virginal women (think Dracula).They can take many forms, such as dreams, spiritual visitations, or tarot card readings. The doyenne of Gothic novelists was Ann Radcliffe, and her most famous novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) took its title from the name of a fictional Italian castle where much of the action is set. Omens: Typical of the genre, omens-or portents and visions-often foreshadow events to come. In the 1790s, novelists rediscovered what Walpole had imagined.The panic, terror, and other feelings characters experience is often expressed in a way that's overblown and exaggerated in order to make them seem out of control and at the mercy of the increasingly malevolent influences that surround them. Melodrama: Also called “high emotion,” melodrama is created through highly sentimental language and instances of overwrought emotion.In some works, these supernatural features are later explained in perfectly reasonable terms, however, in other instances, they remain completely beyond the realm of rational explanation. Victor creates his monster in a remote laboratory at Ingolstadt, while the second monster. Appropriately, the creature first breathes on a dreary night of November. Spooky castles, ominous portents, mystery, and suspense: these are all elements of a Gothic novel. The paranormal: Gothic fiction almost always contains elements of the supernatural or paranormal, such as ghosts or vampires. The fine settings within the novel are striking and distinctively Gothic.

These (mostly) men of the cloth are often portrayed as being weak and sometimes outrageously evil. Clergy: Often, as in 'The Monk' and 'The Castle of Otranto,' the clergy play important secondary roles in Gothic fare.Other settings may include caves or wilderness locales, such as a moor or heath. As Gothic architecture plays an important role, many of the stories are set in a castle or large manor, which is typically abandoned or at least run-down, and far removed from civilization (so no one can hear you should you call for help). Setting: The setting of a Gothic novel can often rightly be considered a character in its own right.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere in a Gothic novel is one characterized by mystery, suspense, and fear, which is usually heightened by elements of the unknown or unexplained.

Gothic literature books