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Summary Gothic Novel Summaries
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helpful for context when writing a gothic passage or themed question, just gives you an idea of what they are roughly about.
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Summaries of gothic texts:1764 Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole
Manfred arranged marriage for his son to Princess Isabella. On Conrad’s birthday and wedding day,
he is found dead after a helmet fell from the sky, leaving Manfred no heir. Manfred decides to marry
Isabella, she says no, and he attempts to rape her but gets distracted by a ghost. She escapes to a
nearby church, Isabella’s father seeks her out. Theodore (a peasant) saves and defends Isabella from
the guards. Isabella’s father finds her and brings her back to the castle out of concern. Manfred
continues to try and marry Isabella, offering Fredric in return his own daughter Matilda. Theodore
and Matilda have been seeing each other in secret, Manfred kills his daughter thinking it is Isabella.
Theodore is discovered to be the true heir when a ghost appears and Manfred reveals how he
usured the throne, Isabella and Theodore marry. GHOSTS, POWER, DAMSEL, HERO, HORROR,
TABOO, SEXUALITY, INCEST, CASTLES, ARCHAIC
1794 The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliffe
The main character is Emily St. Aubert, a beautiful and virtuous young woman who falls in love with
Valancourt. When her father dies, the orphaned Emily goes to live with her aunt. Her aunt’s
husband, an Italian nobleman called Montoni, tries to force Emily to marry his friend. Montoni is a
typical Gothic villain. He is violent and cruel to his wife and Emily and locks them in his castle.
Eventually Emily escapes, and the novel ends happily with Emily’s marriage to the man she loves.
ARCHAIC SETTING (CASTLE), HERO, VILLAIN, HEORINE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, PATRIAHCAL POWER.
There are a number of strange occurrences in the novel which seem to be supernatural, but which
are revealed to have rational explanations.
1796 The Monk Matthew Lewis
Ambrosio is a famous monk; Lorenzo is a wealthy young nobleman; and Antonia is a beautiful young
woman. Lorenzo and Antonia fall in love. Antonia's mother has come to the city seeking the
assistance of the Raymond. Ambrosio is the most virtuous and strict monk in the whole city; when
he discovers that a young nun named Agnes has gotten pregnant despite her vows, he turns her over
to the cruel Prioress with no regrets. When a young monk named Rosario is revealed to be the
beautiful Matilda, a woman who has come to the monastery out of love for Ambrosio. The monk
struggles with his desires, but eventually succumbs to temptation and breaks his vows of chastity.
Lorenzo is stunned to discover that Raymond is the lover of Agnes, Lorenzo's sister and a nun.
Raymond now he vows that he will rescue her and make her his wife. The Prioress tells the men that
Agnes has died from a mysterious illness. Ambrosio sees Antonia and immediately begins to desire
her. One day, Ambrosio molests Antonia, but the watchful Elvira drives him away before he can
cause any major harm to the girl. Matilda, however, offers her assistance, summoning a demon. Just
as Ambrosio is about to violate her, Elvira appears. In the confrontation that ensues, Ambrosio kills
Elvira and flees. Upon Matilda's advice, Ambrosio brings with him a drug that will induce a sleep as
heavy as death and gives it to Antonia. When the doctor declares Antonia dead, Ambrosio takes her
body to the crypt of the monastery, knowing that she will awake in a few hours, and she will be all
his. At the bottom is Agnes, confined for months with only a little bread and water. Lorenzo brings
his sister to safety. Ambrosio rapes Antonia in the dark crypt. Antonia attempts to escape, but
Ambrosio follows her and stabs her to death to keep her from escaping. Raymond and Agnes are
reunited and marry. Ambrosio and Matilda are handed over to the Inquisition, and accused of rape,
murder, and sorcery. Ambrosio sells his soul to the devil who reveals a number of shocking facts:
Elvira was Ambrosio's mother and Antonia was his sister, and Matilda was just a demon who took on
human form. INCEST, RELIGION, GHOSTS, MURDER, VIRGIN, VILLAIN, HERO, ARCHAIC SETTING
, 1818 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen
The Allens invite Catherine Mooreland to Bath. The 17-year-old Catherine eagerly accepts the Allens'
invitation. Catherine is young and naïve. In Bath, Catherine is introduced to Henry Tilney, a young
clergyman who impresses Catherine with his wit and pleasant conversation. Catherine is invited to
the family home of Henry Northanger Abbey. Catherine tells Henry how she imagines the Abbey to
resemble the haunted ruins of the Gothic novels she loves. Henry, amused, responds by giving a
hypothetical account of her first night at the Abbey, complete with mysterious chests, violent
storms, and secret passages. Northanger Abbey turns out to be quite dull, having been fixed up by
General Tilney. Due to her overactive imagination, Catherine entertains all sorts of frightening ideas
about the place. Catherine becomes intrigued by the death of Eleanor and Henry's mother years
earlier. Her mind full of Gothic plots, Catherine suspects that General Tilney of murdering his wife.
Catherine sneaks into the mother's old chamber and discovers nothing. She is caught by Henry, who
guesses her thoughts and scolds her. Mortified and ashamed, Catherine quickly resumes her good
behaviour. PARDOY, ARCHAIC SETTING, HEROINE, HERO
1843 The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allen Poe
An unnamed narrator opens the story by addressing the reader and claiming that he is nervous but
not mad. He says that he is going to tell a story in which he will defend his sanity yet confess to
having killed an old man. His motivation was neither passion nor desire for money, but rather a fear
of the man’s pale blue eye. Again, he insists that he is not crazy because his cool and measured
actions, though criminal, are not those of a madman. Every night, he went to the old man’s
apartment and secretly observed the man sleeping. In the morning, he would behave as if
everything were normal. When the narrator arrives late on the eighth night, though, the old man
wakes up and cries out. The narrator remains still, stalking the old man as he sits awake and
frightened. The narrator understands how frightened the old man is, having also experienced the
lonely terrors of the night. Soon, the narrator hears a dull pounding that he interprets as the old
man’s terrified heartbeat. Worried that a neighbour might hear the loud thumping, he attacks and
kills the old man. He then dismembers the body and hides the pieces below the floorboards in the
bedroom. He is careful not to leave even a drop of blood on the floor. As he finishes his job, a clock
strikes the hour of four. At the same time, the narrator hears a knock at the street door. The police
have arrived, having been called by a neighbour who heard the old man shriek. The narrator is
careful to be chatty and to appear normal. He leads the officers all over the house without acting
suspiciously. At the height of his bravado, he even brings them into the old man’s bedroom to sit
down and talk at the scene of the crime. The policemen do not suspect a thing. The narrator is
comfortable until he starts to hear a low thumping sound. He recognizes the low sound as the heart
of the old man, pounding away beneath the floorboards. He panics, believing that the policemen
must also hear the sound and know his guilt. Driven mad by the idea that they are mocking his agony
with their pleasant chatter, he confesses to the crime and shrieks at the men to rip up the
floorboards. MADNESS, VIOLENCE, PSYCHOLOGICAL, DEATH, VULNERABILITY
1847 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre is a young orphan being raised by Mrs. Reed, her cruel, wealthy aunt. As punishment for
fighting with her bullying cousin John Reed, Jane’s aunt imprisons Jane in the red-room, the room in
which Jane’s Uncle Reed died. While locked in, Jane, believing that she sees her uncle’s ghost,
screams and faints. Lowood School, Jane finds that her life is far from idyllic. The school’s
headmaster is Mr. Brocklehurst, a cruel, hypocritical, and abusive man. Brocklehurst preaches a
doctrine of poverty and privation to his students while using the school’s funds to provide a wealthy
and opulent lifestyle for his own family. She accepts a governess position at a manor called
Thornfield, where she teaches a lively French girl named Adèle. Jane’s employer at Thornfield is a
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