The word "Gothic" brings to mind everything from architecture to vampire novels to
depressed teenagers. But the original "Goths" were barbaric Germanic tribes from 376 to 410 C.E. who caused the destruction of Roman culture. People started referring to anything savage or medieval as "Gothic" until the term became synonymous with anything extravagantly horrifying or irrational. The beginning of the Gothic literary movement was in part a reaction to the rationalist thinking of the Enlightenment.
Gothic fiction began with the Gothic novel. Horace Walpole and William Beckford introduced a new genre of literature with "The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story" (1765) and "Vathek" (1786) respectively, a style which later writers, such as Matthew Lewis and Anne Radcliffe, would imitate and perfect. Gothic novels take place in medieval settings and isolated locales, such as Italian castles or monasteries. Chaste, fainting heroines, corrupt, scheming monks and chivalric, knightly heroes drive the plots. Because many of these Gothic novelists published during the era of Romanticism, a literary movement also characterized by excess, sensibility and imagination, Gothic writers during this period are also considered Romantic.
The Gothic novel came into vogue in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, beginning with Horace Walpole's novel "The Castle of Otranto," which was published in 1764. Perhaps the most famous of all original Gothic novels is Ann Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho." Today, the word Gothic has come largely to represent something that is sensational, dark and related to the supernatural. Many things that were exciting and new in the first Gothic novels have now become stereotypes.
THE SUPERNATURAL IN GOTHIC NOVELS
Gothic novels are pervaded with a sense of mystery. There are often prophecies, omens, ancestral curses and visions. Sometimes ghosts appear or inanimate objects move. In some novels these events are eventually explained, but in others they remain truly supernatural. There is also an inclination to the bizarre and sensational. Plots may include incest or devil worship. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is an example of a supernaturally-inspired Gothic novel.
During the 19th century--especially the Victorian era--society had a tight grip on the imaginations, morals and libidos of the general population. As an outlet for their repression, those who could read often immersed themselves in Gothic novels for titillation, dark suspense and a vicarious peek into the lives of characters who were emotionally and physically diseased. These forerunners to the modern horror genre in film and literature expanded in the 20th century to include romantic themes involving naive young governesses and brooding lords of fog-shrouded estates.
Make the threat of death a prevalent guest throughout your plot. This can take the form of ongoing references to ancestors who met a wicked demise or the gruesomely systematic winnowing down of the manor's residents. In vintage Gothic fiction, the heroine does not always make a successful escape from her attacker. With modern novels that embrace Gothic themes, she is either rescued at the last minute by the man she truly loves or uses her own wits to dodge destruction.
