My hear quickened as I read each word. The man in the hat had just moved into the dark, musty cellar. I sat on the edge of the porch swing and slowly turned the page. Everyone who has ever read a good Gothic story has experienced a similar situation. Gothic, better known as Horror/Terror, is literature that strikes a deep, dark recess of the mind of the reader; that which terrifies them. It has been questioned if Gothic is suitable literature for profound education. Whether it is suitable or not isn’t the real question, I feel. Why do we want to read Gothic literature?

Kirby McCauley, a famed Gothic critic, said “Gothic literature puts us in touch with a part of ourselves that we don’t know but that we feel.” Why does someone want to read something that they know will scare them? Of course, they must like to, but why? I agree with Kirby that a dusty, hidden string; buried deep within the mind; is pulled. We fell the string pulling us closer to the end, and know how to stop it. Yet, we read on.

Gothic literature is necessary in our civilized world today, because it drags out the uncontrollable feelings in us all. In “An Anatomy of Literature” by Robert Foulke and Paul Smith; there are four different categories, Romance, Tragedy, Comedy and Irony. Since Gothic can participate in all four of those, in any amount; it will appeal to a variety of readers and appear in a variety of styles. Good Gothic novels will incorporate more than one of the categories through the characters of the story. “Hop Frog” by Edgar Allen Poe illustrates this by the love between Hop Frog and Tripetta, the satire of the crown, and the horrifying tragic ending. These different forms enhance the suspense of the story by providing a feeling of reader control, so when the bottom falls out at the end, and all control is lost; a shock of adrenaline occurs. The reader is hooked. The climax is here. The Gothic writer will also use these forms of literature to emphasize an aspect of a character’s personality. In the story “Cask of Amontillado”, Poe uses Fortunato’s love of wine to dupe him into his demise, and for Montressor to offer him a considerably lesser quality wine to sooth his cough; shows the sarcastic irony of Montressor’s success. I use Poe works as an example since he is “The Father” of Gothic. Other authors also use this technique with equaled accuracy as the master, such as Stephen King, Clive Barker, and others.

Gothic literature is necessary to the society in that it offers the reader a release for feelings and needs deep within ourselves. Naturally, these needs and emotions will go on throughout life unfulfilled. It is with Gothic stories and movies that society can safely investigate these emotions. Gothic writer’s know about this primal need of man to experience this dangerous dark side of life; and they know how to pull it our from it’s well-guarded, hidden little corner of the reader’s mind. Stephen King once said that a good story depends on the strength of the “gotcha” it impresses on the reader. “Gotcha” is that feeling while you’re reading that you just can’t put it down; you have to know what happens to so-n-so and how the book ends.

Although Gothic follows a basic literary list of ingredients such as; plot, setting, unity, continuity and conflict; it has unlimited topic range. It can go from a dark, musty castle in Transylvania in the 17th century to a modernistic condo on the top floor of a skyscraper in the 25th century. The variety of stories is due mostly to the conflict of all Gothic between Good and Evil. From this conflict can arise a multitude of variations on the other ingredients, especially characters. In most battles especially Good – Evil someone must die, death is an ingredient that always emphasizes the climax. Since Evil is almost always portrayed as a demon or ogre or a creature of the night, we find another ingredient; the supernatural. Plus, only the bravest of souls can defeat such an intense foe. All these extra ingredients are fears of our society because they can not be explained through scientific means.

Society generally does not like anything that it can’t understand; so it will think Gothic stories as literature since it deals with unexplainable topics. If society would only look on the streets, they will notice that there really is a fine line between what is real and what is a fantasy. Just because we may not see it in our life styles, doesn’t mean the dark side is not out there. Since these DARK conditions are rare in real life, Gothic literature allows the reader to experience these situations in a safe, controlled surrounding. Is it safe and controllable?

Gothic stories like to lull the reader into a false sense of security and control, when suddenly the bottom drops out and we are left staring into a chasm of chaos and disaster and death. If the reader allows a good Gothic story to pull loose the chains that bind those fears; when we finally do read the last line, we leave with a sense of disgust, disillusion, satisfaction and often fulfillment.

There will always be those in society who think that bloody guts and gore mixed with the supernatural just isn’t “natural” and good literature. I think it is good to adventure into the DARK, as is fantasy and science fiction. After all as I recall history wasn’t always “glitz” and glamor. There are hundreds of war novels that are quite suitable for our greater educating environments such as “War and Peace”.