Genre and Origins

Gothic Horror

Gothic fiction is a style of writing that is characterized by the elements of fear, horror, death, gloom and sometimes romance. The fiction first began as a sophisticated joke which was never taken seriously as a gene and in the 1700’s ‘Horace Walpole’ wrote the first Gothic novel called ‘The Castle Of Otranto’. When the word Gothic was used it mean something like ‘barbarous’ –‘stated from this online article’. The Gothic genre has grown through time and has given us many amazing novels that are still popular today; ‘Dracula, Frankenstein etc, as Dracula was 'One of the significant pieces of literature ever written, the book has never been out of print since it's first publication and it initiated a 'vampire' industry that spans film, radio, television, books, comics and merchandise' -( 'Gothic Horror, book, edited by Clives Bloom)

In this lecture we were taught the history and background information for the Gothic Horror genre therefore to get a better understanding of where our novels originated from and whether this research can help inspired us within my design. To start off this research we watched a video called 'The Gothic'  who featured University of York lecturer 'John Bowon' who explains the main points of what a Gothic novel has to contain to make a Gothic horror, Gothic. Some points that I gathered from this video where;

•    Explain about the first ever written Gothic novel 'The Castle of Otranto' (1700's) which has inspired every over Gothic novel today.
• Place and Time: Its is inspired by strange and imprisoning places that make a perfect set for Gothic novel that would could never imagine. The idea of time is bet shown in Dracula as he is compared from an old time being brought into a modern one making the story contrast which can corrupt the present e.g. the ghost which is from the past and can again corrupt the present. 
• Power: Can be by supernatural powders or normal people discovering this. Many of the novels represent the main characters desires become their main motif and this can sometime over power themselves.
• Sexual Power: They can be full of all sorts of sexual aspects that may not be used in normal novels as the Gothic is already so out there and different. It repeats the same reasons of inner desires but in other forms showing them through un-natural characters. As well as women being shown as sexual objects/innocence and in some cases having to overcome this need.
• The Uncanny: Something that is new but not quite real, like it should not of happened. For example figures that look human but are not quite human e.g. dolls. 
• The Sublime: The ideas of environments and setting that are extreme and overwhelming. 
• Crisis: Is the idea of things always appearing wrong and how in most Gothic novel that the characters have to adapt to the history or modern changes and this can be quite challenging. 
• The supernatural and the real: Is a big part of the Gothic novel and most are seen as a pure supernatural being like the devil but over reasons are books where things may appear supernatural but are then eventually explained as being real.   

The Castle Of Otranto:

These points have made me understand the main frame to a Gothic novel genre which I need to include into my character. Referring back to the first Gothic novel of 'The Castle Of Otranto' this novel was considered to be the beginning of the Gothic Horror genre and as already stated was not taken to seriously when first written. 'The novel itself tells a supernatural tale in which Manfred, the gloomy Prince of Otranto, develops an irresistible passion for the beautiful young woman who was to have married his son and heir. The novel opens memorably with this son being crushed to death by the huge helmet from a statue of a previous Prince of Otranto, and throughout the novel the very fabric of the castle comes to supernatural life until villainy is defeated. Walpole, who made his own house at strawberry Hill into a mock-Gothic building, had discovered a fictional territory that has been exploited ever since.'- ( The Origins of Gothic)

Four Gothic Setting (YouTube):

As we had learnt about the origins of the Gothic Horror genre we were then shown another video to learn about the Gothic horror settings and why these settings can help us understand how Gothic horror novels are represented. Some of the points from 'Four Gothic Settings' where;

•  late 18th/19th century novels where set in Castles or Monastery which would represent catholic religions.
• They represent danger where you can get lost, become trapped, and may not finding your way out. These elements can also represent the idea of fears within the castle like claustrophobia or the fear of being buried alive. 
• The castle is something in a Gothic novel like 'Dracula' can represent the idea of being hidden away from society for being different and the two separations of the un-natural and natural things can clash. Therefore highlighting a castle as a safe place for the un-natural and different. 
• The castle can also represent the mind of a person like the castle is your barrier from all bad things as you can let them in or choose not too (represented by the castle door). As well we choose not to find some of these dark thoughts but in a Gothic novel they sometimes enter into dungeons of the castle which lies the unknown and this can be scary. This highlights the idea of people not wanting to dig deep into there own thoughts as to being to scared on what they may discover. 

History and its Inspiration:

Some parts of History has had a great influence on the Gothic Horror genre and as times have changed so has fears for people which in some elements been incorporated into some great Gothic novels over time.  

• One of the first events is 'The French Revolution' which was a time when social and political up-rise in France when the public overthrew the monarchy and established a republic. This was a brutal time for many people in France and even the neighboring countries like the United Kingdom. Most of the Gothic novels around this time where written in England as inspired by the current events.  The Gothic novel was a way for people to come to terms with these events and therefore creating the elements of terror in fantasy gave them a chance to express their fears and anxieties to what may happen in the future.  
• The next period of time that was a great influence to the Gothic horror genre was the 'Industrial Revolution', which was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the 17/1800's. The influence of change was a main influence that Gothic novel took the idea of man-made, mechanic and scientific aspects taking over natural things. This was to be believed that the famous book 'Frankenstein' was inspired by, the fear of things being explained by science rather than believing.
• When everything became more industrialized the main cities built up and became very urbanized meaning this was the new terror and setting for many Gothic novels e.g. 'Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde'. Also in this time period it was the reign of Queen Victoria and this influenced the colour and mood of black due to the passing of her husband 'Albert'. She began to have an obsession with death and it began a lot of strange traditions e.g.; curtains always drawn, clocks where stopped on his time of death, mirrors where covered to prevent spirits getting trapped in the looking glass etc. There were other strange rituals for the dead for example when a loved one died (if you were rich enough) they would dress the dead in their best clothes and have there picture taken, sometimes as families. Another tradition was to hire people to mourn at your loved ones funerals. Highlighting that the Victorians found it very hard to let go of the past which inspired many books by 'Charles Dickson'.