I have written before about how detective fiction (and the mystery genre more broadly) emerged out of the Gothic. I even touched briefly on this particular book. But today I want to give a much more in-depth examination of the Gothic elements in Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, first published in serialized form in 1901–2. Continue reading Gothic Tropes in The Hound of the Baskervilles
Category: Tropes
Gothic Tropes: The Cursed Wanderer
“I pass, like night, from land to land…” I mentioned the cursed wanderer in my recent post on Nautical Gothic, so I wanted to examine the concept here in a bit more detail. This is a character archetype that finds its way into many Gothic works both new and classic, either in the form of a villain, a tragic side character, or an antihero. The cursed wanderer is an outcast from society, usually immortal or otherwise supernatural, and never establishes roots but rather is compelled to wander from place to place as the consequence for some past sin. Continue reading Gothic Tropes: The Cursed Wanderer
Bluebeard—A Proto-Gothic Folktale
The Gothic literary movement may not have begun until the mid-eighteenth century with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, but it draws on much older wells of literary tradition. I have already explored the proto-Gothic elements of several of Shakespeare’s plays, which inspired many of the themes and tropes of later Gothic works. Another strong source of inspiration for the Gothic was folklore and fairytales. In many cultures, such tales can be considered one of the earliest forms of horror literature, as they often depict monsters, dark magic, and gruesome consequences for poorly considered actions. But few are quite so dark as the famous French folktale “Bluebeard.”
As is generally the case with tales that were passed down orally, there is no way to know quite how old the Bluebeard story is, but it was first written down and published by French folklorist Charles Perrault in 1697. Its oral nature also means that there are many different versions and variations on the story, but the general outline goes like this: Once upon a time, a very wealthy widower was looking for a new wife, but the local women considered him ugly or frightening because of his strange blue beard. He approached a family with two daughters, and one eventually agreed to marry him after seeing his vast wealth. Shortly after the wedding, Bluebeard tells his new bride that he has to go away from the house for a while. He leaves her a ring of keys and invites her to use them to explore the whole house—with the exception of a locked closet at the end of a long gallery that the smallest key opens. Despite his dire warnings, the young wife eventually gives into temptation and opens the locked closet. Inside, she sees the bloodied bodies of multiple previous wives who, like her, disobeyed Bluebeard’s orders. When Bluebeard returns earlier than expected, the bloodstained key reveals the wife’s disobedience. Just as she is preparing to meet the same fate as her predecessors, the young woman is rescued by her brothers. You can read an 1828 version of the story here on WikiSource. Continue reading Bluebeard—A Proto-Gothic Folktale
Ghostly Brides and Bridegrooms
It’s nearly Valentine’s Day and love is in the air. But before you tie the knot with your beloved, you might want to make absolutely sure they are still among the living. For centuries, ghostly brides and bridegrooms have been common figures in folklore across cultures and have since worked their way into ghost stories and Gothic literature. From folk ballads of the eighteenth century to YA novels of the twenty-first, here are a few of my favorite nuptial specters: Continue reading Ghostly Brides and Bridegrooms
Teachers and Governesses in Gothic Literature
Students aren’t the only ones who have to go back to school in the fall. This back-to-school season, I want to celebrate that most underappreciated of professions: teachers. In Gothic literature, we most often see a type of teacher who was present in many upper-class Victorian homes: the governess.
A governess is a live-in private tutor who was given charge of the education of girls of any age, as well as younger boys, in wealthy European households during the nineteenth century. I’ve already briefly touched on how the boundary-defying qualities of the governess make her particularly suited to Gothic stories in my post on liminality. To expand on that idea, a governess was generally a young woman from an upper-class family that had fallen on hard times. She needed to be genteel, in order to properly teach her charges the skills and manners expected of proper young ladies. But her poverty and the fact that she had to work for a living in the employment of others contradicted the norms of her social class and the idealized form of femininity she was meant to impart to her female students. Neither equal to the household servants nor to the members of the family, the governess occupied a unique role in the home that moved between and existed outside of social class structures. In addition to this social ambiguity, the governess was often a vulnerable figure. She was a young woman alone, an outsider entering into an unfamiliar home and relying on powerful strangers for her food, shelter, and living. Governesses in Gothic novels also tend to be orphans or estranged from their family, with nowhere else to go if their position begins to feel unsafe or uncomfortable. Though a governess may be older and have more life experience than the prototypical Gothic protagonist of the naïf, she is similarly vulnerable and her liminal status makes her all the more prone to ending up in unusual circumstances. Below are just a few examples of works featuring teachers and governesses in Gothic literature: Continue reading Teachers and Governesses in Gothic Literature
Gothic Tropes: The Faustian Bargain
We all know never to make a deal with the devil right? The concept of engaging in trades or bargains with demonic figures has been a common motif in folklore around the world for centuries, but this particular iteration—the Faustian bargain—derives its name from the Germanic folk legend of Doctor Faust. These legends spring from a real historical figure, a sixteenth-century itinerant alchemist and astrologer named Johann Faust, whose larger-than-life reputation led to rumors that he had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for great knowledge and magical abilities. The legend of Doctor Faust has been directly adapted into works of literature many times, but we also see similar bargains being struck by other characters throughout Gothic literature.
Cursed Gifts in Gothic Literature
‘Tis the gift-giving season! As the days grow cold and dark here in the northern hemisphere, giving your loved ones presents for the holidays can be an excellent way to warm each other’s hearts. But if you’re living in a Gothic story, you should probably be wary of any gifts you receive…. What seems like a gift often turns out to be a curse instead. Here are a few of my favorite examples of ill-fated gifts in Gothic literature:
Gothic Tropes: Animate Portraits and Tapestries
The eyes of the portraits are watching you, seeming to follow you no matter where you go.… It’s such a classic scene in horror that we see this moment parodied in nearly every sitcom or children’s cartoon that has a haunted house episode. But where did this trope come from? To an extent, it’s inspired by an actual artistic phenomenon—an optical illusion called “ubiquitous gaze,” in which the artist’s use of perspective makes the subject appear to be looking at the viewer, no matter what angle the viewer approaches it from. In Gothic literature, however, a supernatural explanation is more likely. In fact, in several classic works, the portraits do quite a bit more than merely follow you with their eyes. Below are a few of my favorite examples of portraits and tapestries that come to life:
Continue reading Gothic Tropes: Animate Portraits and Tapestries
Gothic Tropes: Found Document Framing Device
Usually, when discussing tropes in Gothic literature, I talk about certain recurring themes and plot elements (such as madness, prophecies, or burning houses) or character types (like the Creepy Housekeeper, Corrupted Clergy, or First Wife). But the genre also makes use of particular structural or stylistic techniques. One of my favorite stylistic tropes in Gothic literature is the found document framing device.
Continue reading Gothic Tropes: Found Document Framing Device
Gothic Tropes: The Snake Lady
Monstrous women are found throughout Gothic literature. They represent fears and anxieties around female bodies and women’s role in society. But there is one type of monstrous woman we see over and over again, whose symbolism goes back centuries: the snake lady. Part woman and part snake, the snake lady might physically be half and half—like a land-bound mermaid—or she might transform between the two forms. Either way, she inspires both desire and fear—the paradox at the heart of the Gothic.
