Gothic Conventions Flashcards
Pathetic fallacy
The environment is closely linked human emotion: storm are angry, fog hides secrets, etc…
Ruined, grotesque or grand buildings
Any building which is ruined by time, damage, lack of care.
Ugly buildings full of dark corners, gargoyles or mysterious rooms and spaces.
Religious / Satanic Ideas
Religious ideas might include heaven/hell, good/evil; representations of the devil or hell
Sensibility
(the cult of emotion)
Characters wallowing in their own feelings. Exaggerated or heightened emotional states or characters.
Excess and Extremity
Extreme greed or wealth, over the top behaviour or showing off.
The Supernatural / An Ancestral curse
Vampires, monsters, ghosts, ghouls, hauntings, werewolves; generations of family members cursed; ghost or vision
Imagery of decay
Things rotting and breaking down. This might be people, places or objects.
Entrapment/ Imprisonment/
Claustrophobia
The feeling of being trapped
Isolation and loneliness
Characters living alone, stranded or separated from their normal lives.
Nightmares/insanity
Somnambulism
Terrible dreams; Characters who might be going mad;
Sleep walking
Nocturnal / Night
Events that happen in the dark
Multiple / Unreliable Narrators
More than one narrative voice. Can he/she be trusted?
The action might switch from character to character, or from form to form
Persecuted Maiden / Femme Fatal
Beautiful young woman who is in danger; Attractive and powerful women who will course distress
Absolute power
A character controlling other people or places, in total control.
The Satanic /
Arcane
Satanic: to do with the devil and hell.
Arcane: secret, mysterious, understood by few people.
