In Gothic fiction, the location is never neutral. Whether it is a decaying mansion (Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher ) or the rugged Swiss Alps (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ), the environment mirrors the psychological distress of the characters.
As defined by Sigmund Freud, the uncanny is something familiar that has been rendered strange or terrifying. This is seen in the Gothic obsession with doubles, ghosts, and inanimate objects coming to life. Gothic
Gothic protagonists are often brooding, isolated, and intellectually superior but morally flawed. These "villain-heroes" are haunted by past transgressions that they can neither escape nor rectify. In Gothic fiction, the location is never neutral
Gothic literature and architecture are defined by a fascination with the , the uncanny , and the weight of the past . Emerging in the mid-18th century as a reaction against the rigid rationalism of the Enlightenment, the Gothic aesthetic celebrates the irrational, the supernatural, and the emotional extremes of human experience. Architectural Origins This is seen in the Gothic obsession with