‘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:
I often say that the core concept at the heart of the Gothic is the idea of the past haunting the present. One common way that this manifests in stories is through an old prophecy or curse. Prophecies serve to explain how the story’s current action is rooted in some event of the past. In many cases, the prophecy addresses a past wrong and how it might be revenged or righted. Generally, some injustice was committed by a member of a previous generation, and now the perpetrator’s descendants suffer the consequences, recalling the biblical notion that “the sins of the father shall be visited upon the children.” The prophecy can come from a divine source, or can be intentionally inflicted as a curse by a character associated with witchcraft. Prophecies may or may not be paired with other supernatural elements, such as literal hauntings by ghosts, revenants, or doppelgangers. Continue reading Gothic Tropes: Prophecies and Curses
