Since English author Horace Walpole penned the novel The Castle of Otranto with the sub title of A Gothic Story, the Gothic novel gained a large following. The genre became accepted as one that made for an intriguing and totally different way of mixing the elements of a novel.
One essential feature of Gothic fiction is metonymy which is a subtype of a metaphor where one word is used in place of another for added effect. For example, instead of sorrow, the author can write pain. Another characteristic aspect is the setting that is usually away from modernity. It will often be old buildings like caves, forgotten ruins and castles. These are just the place for scenes where a character is trapped, where long, scary shadows loom.
High tension and obscurity are two other must haves. They will be represented by characters disappearing, getting lost or abandoned. Also, a legend or old prophecy is often what the plot is based on. It may be about the ancestry of a character or the origins of a ritual or place. Things may unravel around digging out such elements or paying the price for confronting or revealing them.
Other musts are omens, visions and portents. Usually, there will also be events that are bizarre or at the very least unnatural and the plot may be based on deciphering them. And as all the drama unfolds, extreme emotion will be represented and it can be paralyzing horror or great sorrow or burning anger and piercing screams and heart wrenching howling will often be heard.
Women are commonly associated with emotions and there will often be a distressed one that finds themselves in situations or places from which she sees no way out. There will also be a male character who is brutal and aggravates the anguish of the woman. Romance is often introduced this way.
The Gothic novel also has its own vocabulary to sets that atmosphere. Words like haunted, magical, diabolical, sorcerer, talisman and vision are often heard. Gothic Novel
One essential feature of Gothic fiction is metonymy which is a subtype of a metaphor where one word is used in place of another for added effect. For example, instead of sorrow, the author can write pain. Another characteristic aspect is the setting that is usually away from modernity. It will often be old buildings like caves, forgotten ruins and castles. These are just the place for scenes where a character is trapped, where long, scary shadows loom.
High tension and obscurity are two other must haves. They will be represented by characters disappearing, getting lost or abandoned. Also, a legend or old prophecy is often what the plot is based on. It may be about the ancestry of a character or the origins of a ritual or place. Things may unravel around digging out such elements or paying the price for confronting or revealing them.
Other musts are omens, visions and portents. Usually, there will also be events that are bizarre or at the very least unnatural and the plot may be based on deciphering them. And as all the drama unfolds, extreme emotion will be represented and it can be paralyzing horror or great sorrow or burning anger and piercing screams and heart wrenching howling will often be heard.
Women are commonly associated with emotions and there will often be a distressed one that finds themselves in situations or places from which she sees no way out. There will also be a male character who is brutal and aggravates the anguish of the woman. Romance is often introduced this way.
The Gothic novel also has its own vocabulary to sets that atmosphere. Words like haunted, magical, diabolical, sorcerer, talisman and vision are often heard. Gothic Novel
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