English gothic terms + Edgar Allen Poe quiz

Ancestral Curse

Evil, misfortune, or harm that comes as a response to or retribution for deeds or misdeeds committed against or by one’s ancestors.

Characteristics of Gothic Literature

Gothic literature is a way for us to safely yet creatively explore our fears and concerns. It is often a look into the evil in us all, the unknown, the “bad elevated to the status of the inexplicable.” Gothic literature is a deliciously terrifying blend of fiction and horror with a little romance thrown in. In the most general terms, ​Gothic literature can be defined as writing that employs dark and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices, and an overall atmosphere of exoticism, mystery, fear, and dread.

Body-snatching (grave-robbing)

Body-snatching is the act of stealing corpses from graves, tombs, or morgues. This act was quite prominent during the period of time wherein cadavers were unavailable for dissection and scientific study (early 18th century to mid 19th century).

Claustrophobia

An abnormal dread of being confined in a close or narrow space. Often attributed to actually physical imprisonment or entrapment, claustrophobia can also figure more generally as an indicator of the victim’s sense of helplessness or horrified mental awareness of being enmeshed in some dark, inscrutable destiny.

Death and decay

Rotting away, or loosing consciousness permanently (self -explanatory)

The Devil

The Devil, as portrayed in Judaism and Christianity, stands as a spirit of incarnate evil who rules over a dark kingdom. This spirit stands in constant opposition to God.

Doppelgänger

Doppelgänger comes from German; literally translated, it means “double goer”. A doppelgänger is often the ghostly counterpart of a living person. It can also mean a double, alter ego, or even another person who has the same name.

Dreaming, nightmares, and somnamnublism

Dreaming is characterized as a form of mental activity that takes place during the act of sleep. Dreams invoke strong emotions within the dreamer, such as ecstasy, joy and terror. Somnambulism, better known as sleepwalking, exists as a type of dissociated mental state which occurs during sleep.

Entrapment and imprisionment

A favorite horror device of the Gothic finds a person confined or trapped, such as being shackled to a floor or hidden away in some dark cell or cloister. The sense of there being no way out contributes to the claustrophobic psychology of Gothic space.

The Explained Supernatural

The explained supernatural is a genre of the Gothic in which the laws of everyday reality remain intact and permit an explanation or even dismissal of allegedly supernatural phenomena.

The haunted castle or house

A dwelling that is inhabited by or visited regularly by a ghost or other supposedly supernatural being.

A heroine wooed by both a good and dangerous suitor

Pretty self explanatory, a girl “wooed” by a guy/guys or something

Madness and/or paranoia

Madness or insanity is the state of being mentally ill, especially severely, while paranoia is the suspicion and mistrust of people or their actions without evidence or justification.

The Macabre

“Macabre” is an adjective we use when we are discussing something pertaining to death or to the gruesome. For example, a macabre wallpaper pattern might have putrid yellow stalks and lolling eyeballs, creating a setting of dread and revulsion. In Gothic literature, elements of the grotesque and the macabre are almost universal.

Melodramatic tone

Extravagantly dramatic language and behavior.

The Pursued Protagonist

Refers to the idea of a pursuing force that relentlessly acts in a severely negative manner on a character. This persecution often implies the notion of some sort of a curse or other form of terminal and utterly unavoidable damnation, a notion that usually suggests a return or “hangover” of traditional religious ideology to chastise the character for some real or imagined wrong against the moral order.

Revenant

The return of the dead upon the living.

Revenge

Revenge is characterized as the act of repaying someone for a harm that the person has caused; the idea also points back generically to one of the key influences upon Gothic literature.

Suspense and mystery

Pretty self explanatory, something unknown for mystery, and something nerve wracking and adrenaline building for suspense.

Transformation, Metamorphosis, and the Grotesque

A striking change in appearance; a change in the form or function of a living organism, by a natural or, more Gothically, unnatural process of growth or development; a mutation of the characters into frightening forms. This mutation transforms normal features or behaviors into veritable extremes that are meant to be frightening or disturbingly comic.

Unreliable Narrator

A narrator tells a story and determines the story’s point of view. An unreliable narrator, however, does not understand the importance of a particular situation or makes an incorrect conclusion or assumption about an event that he/she witnesses. They might be unreliable due to being insane, drug-addled, drunk, lying, deluded, or simply being too young to fully understand what’s happening around them.