Gothic literature critics quotes

David Punter-desires

“the gothic deals in illicit desires”

Fox about women

“females are either passive or pernicious”

Fred Botting landscapes

“gothic landscapes are desolate, alienating and full of menace”

Nick Groom past

“The past is inescapable, and indissolubly linked to the present”

domestic fiction-Clive Bloom

“The gothic speaks to the dark side of domestic fiction”

monsters- A. Mellor

“the gothic deals with the circumstances in which ‘monsters get made’”

motifs-R. Kidd

“temptation and transgression are central motifs of the Gothic”

women -A. Green

“Gothic texts repeatedly produce powerful and sexually aggressive females as alien or monstrous”

free woman- Angela Carter

“a free woman in an unfree society will be a monster”

obscurity-Ann Radcliffe

“obscurity leaves something for the imagination to exaggerate”

laws breaking down

Fin de siècle: “all the laws that governed sexual identity and behaviour seemed to be breaking down” 

caution-Fred Botting

Gothic novels “adopt a cautionary strategy, warning of dangers of social and moral transgression”

blurring-Nick Groom

“The gothic blurs the boundaries of the victim and perpetrator”

psychological-David Punter

The gothic “deals in psychological matters” 

ambiguous-Julia Kristeva

“anything ‘ambiguous’ creates a human reaction of horror”-Julia Kristeva