Real fear

Not all Gothic novels require supernatural elements to elicit fear. Many highlight the evil in everyday life.

Charles Dickens’ final, unfinished, novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) grounded the fear in reality. The tale is set in a classic Gothic backdrop of a cathedral and its crypt, but no ghouls or demonic presences are involved in the mystery surrounding the death of Edwin Drood. The peril comes from Edwin’s uncle, intent on a romance with a young woman and removing all obstacles to his desires despite her clear discomfort and disinterest in his advances.

Jane Austen’s Gothic parody Northanger Abbey (1817) utilises the Gothic tropes to reveal ordinary dangers. The Gothic-obsessed young female protagonist encounters medieval buildings and aristocratic secrets, yet, much to her dismay, the abbey and its inhabitants do not contain the murderous secrets and fantastic evil she has read about. Instead, the novel highlights the realistic fears of economic and domestic distress women faced during this time through the treatment of Catherine by Lord Tilney, her love interest’s father. He rejects her as a match for his son after he learns her family are not as wealthy as he initially thought.