How Gothic Horror has adapted through the years *

The genre of Gothic Horror began in 1764 with Horace Warpol and his novel The Castle of Otranto. These earliest Gothic novels featured characters that would have been scary for the time such evil religious figures and sex crazed monks. This was because in this time, religion was central to everything so the fear factor was derived from the idea of the church being corrupt or figures that would normally be looked at for guidance turning evil. Creepy locations such as graveyards and haunted houses were also heavily relied upon to create a scary feel. The turning point for the Gothic genre was Dickens, who adapted the genre to fit in with fears more relevant to the time. He used motifs found in the original gothic novels and adapted them to keep them relevant.The Victorian era was incredibly revolutionary and successful industrially, but the lower classes were hard worked, the streets were filthy and as a result of this the death rate was at an all time high. Scientifically, the Victorian era was a time of great discovery, so these two things combined led to a lot of curiosity and fear regarding the human body. Authors such as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) realised this and used the Gothic genre to play on these fears by basing their novels around the adaptation or disfunction of the human body, people with a sub human consciousness or a hidden phycological disorder. Another key theme in Victorian Gothic literature was desire, particularly the desire of women. This was a time where women were not supposed to be sexual beings, and Authors used this to create a alternate world where women were allowed to feel desire (often desire towards the villain) in the book. People love to read about the unknown, so this made the Gothic genre very popular among women. In modern times, the genre is still very popular with women, often partially due to the inclusion of a very attractive villain in the show. Nowadays, the minds of readers/viewers have been broadened so much that some shows such as The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and particularly True Blood have started introducing viewers to a world where the Gothic and uncanny's world runs in parallel to their own, and to the idea that the dark and gothic could be living closer than they could ever have imagined. True Blood in particular introduced us to a world where Vampires had fully 'come out of the coffin' all over the world, and gives viewers an insight to how it could be living with danger permanently on your doorstep and out in the open.
Show s like these are putting new ideas into viewers heads just in the same way that Mary Shelley in Frankenstein which hinted at a future full of medical discovery and body modification. With the reaches of science and discovery broadening, in modern times people are wondering what else could be out there, with modern day Gothic Horror Television shows helping to put these questions into viewers minds by showing them a world where the normal and the Gothic live hand in hand.