Tropes of Fear

Gothic novels are characterised by certain tropes: ruined castles and abbeys, dank dungeons, gloomy tyrants, mad monks, imperilled female victims, secret chambers, haunted galleries, creaking doors, mysterious portraits, and supernatural episodes. 

These tropes allow the tales to engage with what has been or should be repressed, and the worry that dreams and desires may contain more than we suspect and work in unforeseen ways.