1. Gothic literature

2. What & why
The Gothic novel is a genre associated with the mystery and intrigue surrounding the supernatural and the unknown.
For the English, the late 18th and 19th centuries were a time of great discovery and exploration
Science, religion, and industry
Revered a higher power yet also questioned that higher power (God)
Study of psychology was beginning; early views on “madness” & fascination with this condition

3. Gargoyles—carvings of small deformed creatures squatting at the corners and crevices of Gothic cathedrals—were supposed to ward off evil spirits, but they often look more like demonic spirits themselves.
Think of the gargoyle as a mascot of Gothic tradition, and you will get an idea of the kind of imaginative distortion of reality that Gothic represents.

4. characteristics
Gloomy, decaying setting (haunted houses or castles with secret passages, trapdoors, and other mysterious architecture)
Supernatural beings or monsters (ghosts, vampires, zombies, giants)
Death and decay
Family curses
“Madness”
Curses or prophecies
Damsels in distress
Religion– usually Christianity– is confronted in some way.
Heroes
Powerful love/romance or other intense emotions
Isolation of a main character
Weather indicates the mood (it’s cliché now; it was new symbolism then!)

5. examples Edgar Allan Poe’s works
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dracula
Frankenstein
Jane Eyre
The Picture of Dorian Gray

6. assignment
Read & annotate “The Dance of Death” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Guiding questions: What are the Gothic elements in the poem?
What is the poem about?
Can you make any comparisons to modern-day media?
Read “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Write a brief analysis of the Gothic elements included in the story and their effect on the reader. (1-2 paragraphs)