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Is the Gothic novel at its most successful when the reader is fully immersed into the speaker's realm
of blind terror?
The Gothic novel is at its most successful when the reader is fully immersed into the speaker's
realm of blind terror as it lets the reader place themselves in the place of the protagonist and by
making the reader experience the same feelings as the protagonist it acts to not just retell
experiences to the reader but to actually make the reader go through the same experiences as the
protagonist
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The repeated first person pronoun makes the chaotic dream
Lockwood experiences almost like a dream the reader is having themselves
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Once this effect begins it continues throughout the passage keeping the reader involved in the realm
of confused terror which Lockwood is experiencing
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This
personal engagement is further developed by the use of direct speech when the unexplained entity
outside sobs “Let me in- let me in” showing its desperation
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In Dracula the first person is also used in much the same way to engage
the reader with the protagonists terror
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This is most clear
when Harker describes Mina's face as “[he]” seemed somehow to know […] but [he] could not
recollect at the moment how” he knew it
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The personal engagement the reader has with the protagonists terror is further developed by the
vivid, and detailed, description of the surroundings and other characters
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In Dracula the description of small parts of Mina's anatomy in
such detail that even the “moisture shinning on [her] scarlet lips and on [her] red tongue” is
described to the reader
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This use of detailed vivid imagery is also utilised in Wuthering Heights
when describing Lockwood’s dream
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The most vivid image is the image of how once
the entity outside cuts itself, on the shards of glass clinging to the window frame, the “blood ran
down and soaked the bedclothes”
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These vivid images make the reader experience
many of the same thoughts and feelings as the characters
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In Wuthering Heights Lockwood is very confused as to what is a dream and what is
real
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This is
reflected in the rather chaotic syntax of the passage as there are many sentences that continue on
and on with many clauses
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This sense of unending, confusing action is effectivly demonstrated to the reader as by

reading it they themselves are made to feel a sate of confusion as they are not sure when the
sentence ends or how all all the clauses fit together
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During most of the sensual descriptions of the women the sentences are quite long
and complex
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This in itself is not that effective to engage the reader in the terror
the protagonist is feeling
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The chaotic mix of anger, relief and terror when the count arrives is
made extremely emphatic as the sentence: “But the Count!” is only three words long and does not
seem to make sense as it starts with a conjunctive which is not explained
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To effectively engage the reader with the text the authors gradually build up tension so the reader
wants to continue reading, this is done most effectively by using the protagonist's tension to engage
the reader
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This tension is built effectively as before she does anything she is
sensually described and so the reader knows what is probably going to do but nothing happens for a
while
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By pausing even more tension is built and the repeated description of her teeth emphasise that
whilst this is a sexual act and there is sexual tension being built there is still a large element of
danger
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This building of tension is also used
effectively to engage the reader in the protagonist's terror in Wuthering Heights
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However, the tension
instead increase as the reader is not sure if he is actually awake as Lockwood is still confused as to
what is going on and can hear approaching footsteps
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To conclude, these passages are made successful by effectively engaging the reader with the
feelings and thoughts of the protagonist so they feel involved in the passage

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