What type of characters are in gothic literature?

What type of characters are in gothic literature?

The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, monks, nuns, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, angels, fallen angels, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.

What are the 7 characteristics of gothic literature?

Characteristics of the Gothic include: death and decay, haunted homes/castles, family curses, madness, powerful love/romance, ghosts, and vampires. The genre is said to have become popular in the late 18th century with the publication of Horace Walpole’s novel The Castle of Otranto in 1764.

What are the 10 characteristics of gothic literature?

Terror and Wonder: 10 key elements of Gothic literature

• Set in a haunted castle or house.
• A damsel in distress.
• An atmosphere of mystery and suspense.
• There is a ghost or monster.
• The weather is always awful.
• Dreaming/nightmares.
• Burdened male protagonist.
• Melodrama.

Who is the most famous gothic author?

This list features the best gothic novelists including, the Bronte sisters, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

What is a Gothic hero?

The hero of a Gothic narrative is not a Homeric hero setting out on a lofty quest; he is just a noble young gentleman trying to win the hand of the heroine.

Who is the father of Gothic novel?

The first work to call itself “Gothic” was Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764). The first edition presented the story as a translation of a sixteenth century manuscript, and was widely popular.

What is a hero villain in Gothic literature?

The villain of a story who either 1) poses as a hero at the beginning of the story or 2) simply possesses enough heroic characteristics (charisma, sympathetic past, physical attractiveness) so that either the reader or the other characters see the villain-hero as more than a simple charlatan or bad guy.

Is Macbeth Gothic?

Although the play Macbeth predates the Gothic genre, there are elements in Macbeth that are distinctly Gothic. The settings are generally dark and claustrophobic, and fear, guilt and the sightings of ghosts are all aspects of the genre.

What are characteristics of a Gothic novel?

Gothic elements include the following:

• Setting in a castle.
• An atmosphere of mystery and suspense.
• An ancient prophecy is connected with the castle or its inhabitants (either former or present).
• Omens, portents, visions.
• Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events.
• High, even overwrought emotion.
• Women in distress.

Is The Hound of the Baskervilles supernatural?

Of the four novels that Doyle published featuring Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles is the only one to take a supernatural theme.

Is Jane Eyre a gothic text?

As a whole, the setting of Jane Eyre, the unsettling events of her past, and the cast of characters, all contribute to classifying the novel as a gothic one.

What does punter contrast Gothic literature with in the fifth chapter?

In the fifth chapter especially, Punter tends to contrast the real psychological preoccupations of Gothic with its incidental ‘environmental trappings’ (p.116) – a model of trivial surface and serious depth that is upheld throughout this ‘psychologizing’ work.

What is David Punter famous for?

David Punter (born 19 November 1949, in Harrow, London) is Professor of English at the University of Bristol. He is the author of many critical studies, and has been internationally recognised as an expert on Gothic culture. Punter’s academic career commenced as a senior lecturer at the University of East Anglia.

Are Radcliffe and Lewis the real antagonists of Gothic literature?

Before Punter, the figures of Radcliffe and Lewis had habitually been presented as antagonists in the supposedly crucial matter of the use of the ‘explained’ supernatural. And since Punter, these two romancers have been sundered even more drastically as founders of incommensurable ‘female’ and ‘male’ Gothic modes – as ‘Mother’ and as ‘Monk’.