HELP:What does 'Gothic' mean?

Question

Im 18 and im doing my A levels at the moment in Leicestershire. One of the subjects that I choose to do was English Literature. Its now come to that time of the year when our coursework needs to be started and researched. The subject we've been given to do is 'The Gothic'. We've been given set books to read and explore with these being the mainstream types of gothic books like; Frankenstien, Dracula, The Bloody Chamber, Rebecca, The Woman In Black etc...

At this moment, Ive started my coursework and have handed several drafts in to my teacher. One thing that always comes up is that I need to be able to explain what 'Gothic' is and link it with the books, cause at the moment Im apparently 'feature spotting' and not really explaining what their significance is.

So, this morning, I decided to browse the internet to find out what 'Gothic' is/was. So I want to know what YOU think Gothic is.

Answer 1

From a Renaissance perspective (originally Italian, gotico, with connotations of "rough, barbarous"), it conveyed the opposite of 'classical' or 'Roman', hence:

From its use in Romanticism, the word in the 20th century came to refer to anything dark or gloomy:

Answer 2

If it's about books, than maybe this will help you...
Gothic novel is supposed to scare the reader, but not with modern boogeyman, like terrorist or serial killer. It's all about ghosts, vampires, werewolves, hounted houses, monsters brought to life by witches or experiments (Dr. Frankenstein rules!)that kind of thing. There always is mystery, darkness, lots of blood. Oh, and romance, maybe an affair between a girl and Dracula?

Answer 3

it depends what you're talking about: there's architecture from the 16th century, or the Goth culture which is linked to Gothic literature/films. it's a bit like horror and the way things are described in books, even if positive, are usually given in a bleak perspective. hope this helps

Answer 4

Gothic fiction began in England with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. It depended for its effect on the pleasing terror it induced in the reader, a new extension of literary pleasures that was essentially Romantic.
Prominent features of gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.
The stock characters of gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.
Important ideas concerning and influencing the Gothic include: Anti-Catholicism, especially criticism of Roman Catholic excesses such as the Inquisition (in southern European countries such as Italy and Spain); romanticism of an ancient Medieval past; melodrama; and parody (including self-parody).

Answer 5

As in architecture, pointed arch style popular from the twelfth to sixteeth century