BY KATELYN KUPPERBUSCH

Gothic Time Period

How did it start?

The writer Horace Walpole wrote the first Gothic Fiction titled The Castle of Otranto

The Castle of Otranto

Other famous authors of this time period

1. Mathew Lewis (The Monk, 1796)2. Anne Radcliffe (The Italian, 1797)3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge ("Christabel",

1816)4. John Keats ("Eve of St Agnes", 1820)5. John Polidori (The Vampyre, 1819)6. Mary Shelley (Frankenstein,1831)

When did it begin?

This play was written in 1764 and is said to have started the

entire Gothic genre.

What elements make up the Gothic Genre?

1. grotesque elements 2. the mysterious3. the desolate environment4. the horrible5. the supernatural

What was the purpose of this Genre?

1. To expand the creativity depths of the mind2. To make the reader lose himself or herself

in the creativity of the piece

What was the general setting?

1. In the darkness2. During stormy weather

What did Walpole bring to the literature world?

Introduced…1. Monsters, 2. Ghosts 3. Some form of human servant to

Satan

What does the term, “Gothic” mean?

As time passed it came to be known as medieval,

unenlightened, superstitious, ugly and barbaric

Why was this genre so popular?

Stories were filled with purity and reason and became boring to the many readers and attendee’s of the local plays. Therefore, when

the Gothic ideas came into practice, people fell in love with

the extreme emotion.

What was also impacted by this genre?

Architecture

Gothic Architcture

The inevitable decay and collapse of human creation came into play around

this time period. It also created the craze for building fake ruined

churches all over the European country estates.

Horace Walpole’s castle, named Strawberry Hill and is said to have started the craze for the “worn” look to architecture.

What was also impacted by this genre?

Created Ghost Stories

Anne Radcliffe

This Woman introduced the difference between horror and terror

Terror and Horror

Definition of Terror: "expands the soul, and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life.“

Definition of Horror: "contracts, freezes, and nearly annihilates the mind.”

Differences between Walpole and Radcliffe

Walpole started out as a poor author and no one respected any of his pieces. At first, everyone looked at his ideas as crazy and out there… then people fell in love with the change of pace.

Radcliffe started out as a respected author and only grew in her career as she expanded on all of Walpole’s ideas.

What did the people do for fun?

1. took trips to the spa2. puppet shows3. cock fighting4. public executions.

Public Executions

Public executions were a way to express their darker side, and many

believe that their interest in attending these ceremonies originated with the

creation of the Gothic Genre.