The Horror ! The H orror !What Hath G oth W rought ?

The Horror Story Unit

The Horror! The Horror!What Hath Goth Wrought?Characteristics and Origins of the Gothic Literature/Horror GenreHorror or just Gore?Before the days of Freddie Kruger, Hollywood made many suspense/horror movies, some cheapie thrillers (I Dismember Mama), and some that became classics for chilling the blood of the audience. The master of these movie-makers was Alfred Hitchcock, who built suspense slowly and subtly, usually without blood or overt violence. The original Psycho was a masterpiece of subtle horror as were Rear Window and The Birds.

Horror or just Gore?Todays master of the horror novel is Stephen King, whose books (often made into movies) are true spine-chillers that use suspense to terrify readers.

Did you know that before horror there was Gothic Literature, part of the Romantic Movement?

Romantic RootsImagination, intuition, and feelings (versus reason and intellect)Spirituality (versus science)Innocence (versus experience)Nature and the country (versus industrialization and the city)Nostalgia (versus progress)

Romantic RootsIn America, Romanticism most strongly impacted literature.

Writers explored supernatural and gothic themes.

Romantic RootsYesterday and today: Horace Walpoles Castle of Otranto (1764); Anne Radcliffe, Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King; Freddy, Jason, Mike, et al.

Whats so great about fear anyway?Do you feel moments of terror? Do you hold your breath? Do you laugh? Why do you react as you do?How do you explain the desire of people to be terrified? As children, we delight in ghost stories told in the dark. As adults, we read books or see movies that we know will scare us. Why?

Elements of HorrorSetting

a deserted (or sparsely inhabited) castle or mansion in a state or ruins or semi-ruinslabyrinths/mazes, dark corridors, and winding stairs filled with dusty cobwebscastles or mansions which have hidden tunnels/staircases, dungeons, underground passages, crypts, or catacombs.Edgar Allen Poes Fall of the House of Usher, Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper, Hitchcocks Psycho.

if set in a broken down modern house, the basement or attic becomes the place of terror

threatening natural landscapes, like rugged mountains, dark forests, or eerie moors, exhibiting stormy weatherShellys Frankenstein, Sherlock Homes Hounds of the Baskervilles.

CemeteryA place for the burial of the dead.Caves, temples, mounds, catacombs, churchyards, crypts.Crosses cultures and ages.

Entrapment/ImprisonmentBeing confined or trapped, as shackled to a floor or hidden away in a dark cell.Heightens the psychology of feeling theres no way out.Poes Usher in which Madeline awakens having been buried alive.

Elements of HorrorLighting/Mood

Blackoutlimited lighting such as moonlight (usually a full moon), candles, flashlight, lanternoften the light disappears: clouds hide the moon, candles go out, flashlights/ lanterns are dropped and brokenif electric lights exist, they usually mysteriously go out

Mist/Fog

A grouping of water particles due to a change in atmospheric conditions.

Literary convention used to obscure objects, reduce visibility, or preclude the insertion of something terrifying.

CharactersUnreliable NarratorThe narrators ability to accurately relate events is suspect.The narrator makes incorrect assumptions or conclusions, or misunderstands situations or other characters.Poes Tell-Tale Heart or James Turn of the Screw.

DevilA spirit of incarnate evil.Latin: diabolus.Ranges from tragic villain-hero (Miltons Paradise Lost) to punisher of sinners (Lewis The Monk) to tempter and deceiver (Marlowes Dr. Faustus) to pure evil.

Villain-HeroThe villain poses as a hero at the beginning of the story, orThe villain possesses enough heroic qualities (charisma, sympathetic past) so that either the reader and/or the other characters see the V-H as more than a charlatan or bad guy.Miltons Satan; Prometheus.

The Pursued ProtagonistA force that relentlessly, terminally and unavoidably pursues, persecutes or chastizes another for some real or imagined wrong.A crime and retribution cycle, but alsoA hero-villain can be both the pursued and the pursuer (Shelleys Frankenstein, Stokers Dracula).

The Pursued HeroineA virtuous, idealistic, and usually poetic young woman is pursued by a wicked, older, potent aristocrat.The pursuit threatens the young ladys morals and ideals (and often her virginity).She usually responds with passive courage.

Ghosts, Werewolves, Vampires, WitchesAssorted supernatural (usually malignant) beings, bogies, and baddies.

DoppelgangerGerman: doublegoer.Ghostly counterpart of another person.Body double, alter ego, identical other person.Blochs Psycho, Stevensons Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Other ElementsAncestral CurseThe current generation suffers for evil deeds of ancestors.Nathaniel Hawthornes The House of the Seven Gables.

Body-SnatchingGrave-Robbing.Stealing corpses from graves, tombs, or morgues.Illicit trade in cadavers.Violation of religious space. Commercially motivated by science.Kings Pet Semetary.

ClaustrophobiaAbnormal dread of being confined in a close, narrow space.Small, dark, windowless spaces.

Gothic CounterfeitPlayful fakery of authenticity.The text is presented as a discovery or recovery by the editor, sometimes of an ancient or forgotten text.Cloaks the real writers authorship.Complicates the point of view (making things more fun and intriguing).

Dreaming/NightmaresDredge up strong emotions, such as ecstasy, terror, joy.Reveal urges, impulses, desires, even truths about oneself one tries to hide.Reveal the future; premonitions.

Gothic GadgetsPhysical elements allowing supernatural powers to display uncanny presence and abilities.Supernatural props: vocal and mobile portraits; animated statues and skeletons; doors, gates, portals, hatchways which open and close independently; secret passageways; secret messages and manuscripts; forbidden chambers and sealed compartments; casket lids seen to rise, etc.

The GrotesqueMutations, often deformities.The flowers in Hawthornes Rappaccinis Daughter; the jester in Poes Hop-Frog.A mix of two separate modes, such as comedy and tragedy, creating a disturbing fiction, in which comic circumstances often preclude horrific tragedy and vice-versa.

NecromancyThe dark art of communicating with the dead.Marlowes Dr. Faustus.

RevenantThe return of the dead upon the living.A ghostly being who returns to life.Wilke Collins The Dream Woman.

RevengeThe act of repaying someone for a harm caused.Revenge can be enacted upon a loved one, a family member, a friend, an object or area.Poes Cask of Amontillado.

SomnambulismSleepwalkingHidden sources of stress may be revealed or acts of guilt replayed.

Transformation/MetamorphosisA striking change in appearance; a change in the form or function of an organism by a natural or unnatural process.Poes Morella and Ligeia; HG Wells Dr. Moreau, Stevensons Mr. Hyde, Kings It.

Your TaskCreate an original horror story2-3 pages in length.must include dialogue, characterization, theme, and suspense, BUT no gore.This is not an experiment in how much bloody violence you can write about. It is a piece about fear, suspense, and terrornot blood and guts.Elements of a Short Storyhttp://www.flocabulary.com/fivethings/Listen to and follow along with the song about the five major elements of a story. A copy of this song has been given to you for your information.

AcknowledgementMaterial in this powerpoint is a combination of two on-line PowerPoints as well as my own insertions.Presentation created by Paul Reiff of the English Department at Vernon Hills High School, District 128, Illinois.Most material gathered from A Glossary of Literary Gothic Terms on the web at www2.gasou.edu/facstaff/dougt/goth. Site maintained by Douglas H. Thomson of the Department of Literature and Philosophy at Georgia Southern University.Presentation found at http://www.etsu.edu/coe/uschool/faculty/borthwik/honors/documents/The_Horror_Story_Unit.ppt.