The ruins of Wolf’s Crag castle in Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor (1819)
Severe thunderstorm warning. In real life it is the sign that bad weather will come. In 20th century gothic tales it was the unpleasant atmosphere, an omen of something bad that is going to happen. This bad omen often precedes the big shocking revelation, the dark secrets some of the protagonists (or villains) hide. If the setting is in a nice and sunny castle or the house in the city (because the 20th century introduced urban settings), very soon it becomes cloudy and scary, with fear and terror coming from the inside.
The Evolution of Gothic Literature
Gothic literature started to gain popularity in the 18th century. The works by Horace Walpole, Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis and William Thomas Beckford found their audience very quickly and set the base for the evolution of the genre that will find its place both in the literature, film and television two centuries later. How did gothic fiction evolve? Simply put, from black and white portraying of heroes and villains, and those passing through moral tests, to those torn by inner demons. The evolution went from creepy towers, through gloomy estates, to mysterious buildings and mansions. From supernatural to psychological. Gothic fiction evolved significantly in 200 years, leaving the 20th century an interesting space for the authors to explore the inner world of the characters.
Inside Your Mind
Secrets, those little facts no one knows, hidden in the human mind, can be a real treasure when exploring human nature. And as the 18th century gothic authors, in the age of discoveries in physics, were fascinated with thunder, lightning, and severe thunderstorm warning, giving them supernatural powers, gothic authors of the 20th century were amazed by psychology.
The 20th century was the era of Freud and Jung, whose theories of three aspects of adult personality and of balance of the conscious and unconscious, opened whole new layers of research for the authors. So, while in the 18th and 19th centuries, the line between good and evil was clear, the 20th century brought changes. The villains often became dark, brooding and secrets-torn anti-heroes to which readers emphathized. The roles became completely convoluted. Servant women, who were in previous centuries, right and honorable now become “witch” like. For example, Mr. Danvers from Rebecca. She was so perfectly crafted. Her talent to crawl into the minds of the protagonists in moments looks supernatural.
Who Were The Real Demons?
In Rebecca, the protagonists don’t think something is moral or not, or right or not. The second Mrs. de Winter, goes from a shy and timid woman to empowered and assertive when illusions about Rebecca shatter. She’s not a damsel in distress, but a strong woman ready to face the future. Portrait of a Man with Red Hair by Hugh Walpole, as a psychological horror, explores the dark traits of the characters, offering rather a human evil than supernatural as before. The novel also explores topics such as fear and vulnerability, focusing rather on the internal than on the external. These two examples, as also the other gothic fiction of the 20th century don’t talk about fighting and destroying a villain, but rather inner torments or inner demons that make their life a living hell. A severe thunderstorm warning happens. The layers the author reveals are actually a revelation of a character’s dark secrets. They replace once external monsters and demons who now became a part of their psyche and a very powerful threat.
