Gothic Horror in Susan Hill's The Woman in Black and H.G. Wells' The Red Room

This intellectual movement a... ... middle of paper ... ...tablished in the modern horror genre, thus it is practical to observe the archetypes of the Gothic novel as well. This allows the responders to grasp a better understanding of the origins of horror elements. It is therefore evident that the Gothic horror genre has evolved a great deal over the past two hundred years or so. The Gothic novel has affected the horror genre because of the intrigue created with the intense emotions and aspects of human nature. This as a result creates Gothic horror, similar to the horror genre but instead plays on the horrifying attributes of the radical human mind rather than the dread of the unknown and the irregular.

Fear is a guiding force in both the short stories and the fixation the main characters with it only leads to their demise. With both terror and the supernatural being common conventions in most gothic fiction Gothic Fiction is a popular genre of literature that’s aim is to combine horror, fiction and romanticism. It originated in 18th century England and was said to have been founded through Horace Walpole’s novel “The Castle of Otranto” (Hughes). He claimed it to be a “found” medieval manuscript which added to its popular, although he later admitted it was a lie (Hughes). This mode of literature appears to have sprung out from Gothic architecture... ... middle of paper ... ...th possess conventions commonly demonstrated in gothic fiction surrounding setting, atmosphere and theme.

Just before he starts to tell his story, he tells Robert Walton that his story has "unparalleled misfortunes" and that he has "memories of evil" this is meant to strike fear into the reader and into Robert Walton, it shows that Victor Frankenstein is deeply horrified with what has happened to him. There is also evil in this story a... ... middle of paper ... ...ypical through out all of the book. I believe that Frankenstein is definitely a horror story and that it is also a Gothic story, because it has many features that are typical of these genres. I do not believe that they are the main genres though, as the Romantic genre is a lot more dominant in this novel. I believe that this is mainly because of the time period that it was set in, as it was written in 1818, and this was when people were starting to discard the horror genre, and they were starting to believe in nature.

Therefore, there is some continuity to how fear is presented in Frankenstein & The Woman in Black demonstrating that these two novels are examples of a postmodernist novel and pre-modernist novel, which is very rare. Although , what determines the roots of the horror genre, the explorations of the gothic genre has already been investigated therefore, to established the difference between the dying genre and the ... ... middle of paper ... ... a new form of terror literature which mixtures with thrillers, but still provides the same quality and emotions as terror literature has done throughout the decades. According to figure 1.4 this explores how enjoyable the selected people have enjoyed reading the novels that they have come across. The responses range from ages like 21 to 63 who have read the ins and outs of these books and have come up with their own interpretation about the novels that some consider ‘Classic Gothic Lit’ and others consider not good like the short percentage of people who said that Hill’s The Woman in Black is not an enjoyable read as well as, The Monk. However, the largest percentage that people thought was an enjoyable read was Stoker’s Dracula alongside Shelley’s Frankenstein which are both considered such classic Gothic Literature whether or not people enjoy reading or not.

The Gothic was born out of the romanticism genre in the late Eighteenth Century, combining romance and horror in an attempt to thrill and terrify the reader, yet in the Victorian era ceased to become a dominant literary genre. However themes of the Gothic still survived such as psychological and physical terror, mystery, supernatural and madness. The melancholy atmosphere and persistent melodrama in novels such as ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens are examples of Gothic elements in later novels as the ‘Victorian gothic’ moves away from traditional themes (ruined castles, helpless heroines, evil villains) and exchanges them for the supernatural and uncanny within a recognisable environment, bringing a sense of familiarity to the reader and thus making the text more disturbing. However is this sense of disconcerting familiarity the only reason gothic novels are so widely read or are there other reasons? Gothic Literature has several distinctive features.

Using Gothic Characteristics to Portray the Theme of Knowledge in American Gargoyles, Johnny Mnemonic, Frankenstein, Good Country People, and Cyberpunk Gothic literature has been interpreted, and even criticized by many people as just being scary stories. They feel the author's only purpose for using gloomy settings and grotesque characters is to horrify the reader. This however is rarely true of Gothic literature, instead an author will use these characteristics to portray a deeper purpose rather than to just scare the reader. This is true of all genres of gothic literature including classical, southern, and cyber literature. One theme that has been prevalent throughout gothic history is that of knowledge.

While most publishers merely churned out serial horror stories en masse, such as Varney the Vampyre, many serious writers used this genre as a means to force their audience to think about their beliefs. Serious Victorian Gothic literature plays on the fears and emotions of the era, an era that was especially fearful since their beliefs had been ripped out from under them, largely by contrasting modern science with medieval superstition and belief. The Victorian era was similar to our own in that it was a time when people weren't really sure what was true or what they believed. As this prayer, believed to have come from the Victorians shows, " 'O God - if there is a God - save my soul - if I have a soul' " (Houghton 22). New theories about the age of the earth had demonstrated that something was out of kilter with the bible, since the earth seemed to be older than the biblical account would show.

The Gothic novel, or Gothic romance, emphasized mystery and horror and was filled with ghost-haunted rooms, underground passages and secret stairways. You don't tend to see this type of story anymore and the popularity that they enjoyed decades ago seems to be waning. With the two stories, ... ... middle of paper ... ...t that both writers did very well in creating and sustaining tension, among other things. One of the first things that came to mind was this the title. The title "The Red Room" immediately attracts the reader's attention; it is symbolic but leaves unanswered questions.

Gothic horror tales often have exotic and mythical influences. The night and the unreassuring lack of light play a big part in adding to the hellish imagery. One of the key ways that tension is built up in gothic horror stories is through the setting. For example, “The Red Room” is set in an old dark castle. It is quite remote.

The two Gothic novels, Dracula and Frankenstein, introduced two of the most terrifying characters throughout all of literature. Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, and Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, both present elements of terror and create a tense mood and a frightening picture. In both of these novels the other characters are not able to see these evil creatures actions. Although both of these novels depict truly evil minds, Dracula is far more terrifying than Frankenstein due in part to its bloodthirsty vampires, mysterious deaths, and dark gothic tone. Dracula is indeed the more bone-chilling story of the two.