These became the components that gave Gothic literature its very definition. It was not long before the sublime idea of terrible nature grew until it included even more of the supernatural such as fantastical beings, witchcraft, and other extraordinary phenomena (Kemp, 2001, WEB). “Graveyard Poetry” became increasingly popular during the early 1700’s, and paved the way for what would officially become “Gothic” literature. In other words it’s the sublime imagery that produces the required effect. On why these poems are effective author Fred Botting (2001:39) states, “the awful obscurity of the settings of Graveyard poetry elevate the mind to ideas of wonder and divinity”. This group became known as the “Graveyard Poets” or the “Graveyard School”. One group in particular began using the ideas of terror, death, and the supernatural, in combination with that which is terrible in nature to create the sublime. In the beginning of gothic fiction era, it was not long after the translation of mythological texts that artists began experimenting with ways to elevate and transport their audiences with the use of the sublime. By taking into account the definitions of the attributes, you can clearly see that one of the criteria for a gothic horror story is the use of light and darkness to create a sinister atmosphere. When the person sleeps, he doesn't think and so the supernatural and outlandish(Hyde) world can enter his mind.Science fiction is fiction based and claims scientific discoveries and often deals with convincing technological events, such as, space travel or life on other planets. Doppelgangers can also revealed to the characters through dreams. Jekyll is the rational, intellectual self, while Hyde is the impulsive and irrational one. The double motif suggests that humans are burdened with a dual nature. Doppelganger may be defined as ' a second self or alternate identity'. Supernatural calamities and other occurrences may portray the doppelganger of a character in a Gothic literature to help the reader into understanding the character better. Whether or not The Creature was justified in murdering all of those close to Victor is not the question here instead, envision his actions as simply absurd and to the utmost extreme.

And similar to his apearance, his actions are extreme. Frankenstein, with his body blown completely out of proportion, when compared to that to a normal human being, and his hideous appearance, is a personification of the absurd. Mary Shelley's gothic classic Frankenstein, is a great example. Putting sublime characters in absurd circumstances evokes darkness in the story and the reader. The elements are cleverly calculated, and calamity never occurs simply for the sake of calamity.Gothic literatures have that certain something that makes a person question and use the darkness to find what needs to be found as opposed to using the light.

Furthermore, the elements of the gothic work are not some random congregation of obscenities and meaningless calamity. Gothic literature can be defined as a literature that uses, as its main driving force, a combination of the supernatural, the grotesque, and the absurd in order to convey its point to the reader.

Gothic literature essay