wise words by
Cheryl S. Ezekiel
5th May 2025
Are we drawn to the dark? The enduring influence of Gothic literature
Whether this article romanticises the unknown and gothic is up to the reader’s discretion. But what it entails is an account of how important and impactful Gothic literature is to the world. Deriving a narrative from seemingly empty aspects is a trait perfected by Gothic Literature and its authors. The atmosphere which Gothic literature thrives is built on shadows — the unseen, the unknown, the terrifyingly possible. But beyond the creaking mansions and moonlit graveyards, Gothic literature has shaped storytelling in ways far deeper than its signature darkness. Its influence stretches across centuries, quietly shaping novels, films, and even the way we think about fear and desire.
Finding beauty in the unknown may sound romanticised. Still, it’s impossible to deny the longing it stokes for deeper understanding. Extracting meaning from seemingly insignificant elements is a skill perfected by Gothic Literature and its authors. Gothic atmosphere is built on shadows—the unseen, the unknown, the terrifyingly possible. But beyond creaking mansions and moonlit graveyards, Gothic literature has shaped storytelling beyond with its signature darkness. Its influence stretches across centuries, quietly shaping novels, films, and even the way we think about fear and desire.
Let’s step into the beckoning corridors of Gothic fiction and see where those shadows lead.
The roots of Gothic literature start in the late 18th century with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764). Walpole’s novel, with its crumbling medieval castle, secret passageways, and supernatural happenings, set the tone for the genre. Despite the dramatic atmosphere, Gothic fiction wasn’t created to peddle cheap thrills; it tapped into something deeper—our fear of the unknown and the allure of forbidden knowledge.
The genre quickly grew in popularity. Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) added a new layer of psychological terror blurring the line between reality and imagination. Soon after, Matthew Lewis’s The Monk (1796) shocked readers with its dark themes of temptation, sin, and madness.
This early Gothic literature captured the feeling of the ‘sublime’—the mixture of awe and terror you feel when standing on the edge of a cliff or staring up at a stormy sky. It’s no surprise that the Romantic poets, like Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, were heavily influenced by this atmosphere. This was only the beginning of the genre now known as Gothic Literature.
In 1818, an 18-year-old Mary Shelley sat by a fire in a villa on Lake Geneva telling ghost stories with friends. Out of that gathering, the story ofFrankenstein was born—one of the most enduring works of Gothic fiction. Shelley’s monster wasn’t just a creature stitched from corpses; it was a reflection of human ambition and isolation.
In many ways, it was the first modern science fiction novel, proving that the Gothic could evolve to create new fears, not just explore existing ones.
Around the same time, Edgar Allan Poe brought Gothic literature to America, wrapping it in his own brand of psychological horror. Poe’s stories, like The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher, focused on madness, obsession, and the fragility of sanity. His work laid the foundation for the modern horror story, and his influence can still be seen in films like The Shining or shows like American Horror Story.
The Gothic boom also gave us Dracula. Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel was inspired by centuries of vampire myths shaped into the figure we recognise today—sophisticated, terrifying, and oddly seductive. The vampire’s allure reflects one of the central themes of Gothic literature: the tension between desire and fear. It’s no accident that modern vampire stories, from Interview with the Vampire to Queen of The Damned, still draw on this dynamic.
Even as the 19th century ended, Gothic fiction refused to fade into the shadows. Instead, it slipped into other genres, transforming them from within. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) is often considered a Gothic novel, with its mysterious mansions, secret wives, and brooding heroes. It also used Gothic elements to explore themes of independence, love, and social class.
In the 20th century, the Gothic found new forms. In cinema, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) took the isolated house and twisted family dynamics of traditional Gothic tales and made them terrifyingly real. Meanwhile, writers like Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House) and Stephen King (The Shining) used the genre’s tools to explore paranoia, isolation, and the uncanny.
Even contemporary fantasy and science fiction owe a debt to the Gothic. Think of the dark, crumbling beauty of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts or the existential, bizarre horror of shows like Black Mirror. These stories, though modern, still play on the fear of what lies just beyond the veil of ordinary life—a fear Gothic literature claimed as its own.
Authors are still humans influenced by real life events and their environment; which their work often reflects. Gothic authors are no different. They relay what they see in subtle and captivating forms to inform the public.
Gothic Literature often reflects political ideas. For example, Jane Eyre explores the limits of a young woman’s life revolving around duty, responsibility, love, loyalty, betrayal, social standards, and morality. The novel uses Gothic themes to highlight the pressures faced by common people trying to make it in life.
Sometimes authors reflect their genre. Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious death is Gothic in itself. Many theories and movies like The Death of Poe and The Raven (named after his poem) delve into possibilities of his death exploring its grief and ambiguity. Ultimately, the specifics of his demise are still unknown.
Perhaps some of the most accessible examples of Gothic films are Tim Burton’s famous Goth Horror movies such as Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands. The movies, both live-action and animated, delve into a wide range of themes featuring unique, fantastical creatures and elements. Gothic culture has influenced directors like Tim Burton to bring Gothic elements to life for everyone to visualise, even children.
All these forms of Gothic fiction encourage its audience to think beyond what the world easily reveals. It rekindles the oppressed curiosity of the world and beckons us to broaden our minds. Maybe the shadows we are afraid don’t conceal the unknown, but simply hide things that are already familiar.
So why has Gothic literature endured for more than 250 years? Perhaps because it understands something essential about human nature, maybe it urges us to see beyond the known. We’re drawn to the dark because it holds both danger and possibility. Gothic stories reflect our deepest fears—of madness, death, isolation—but also our secret fascinations. The forbidden, the unknown, the otherworldly: these are the things we dream about when the lights go out.
But the Gothic is more than just fear. It’s about beauty and ruin, desire and dread, the terrible and the sublime. It’s about what happens when we peer too closely into the darkness and find that it’s looking back. Gothic aspects influence the yen within us to delve deep and unravel intricate complexities of life and its truths.