1. *Gothic Literature begins in the mid 1760s taking its inspiration from the Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages.

2. “The imaginative distortion of reality.” *American Gothic got its start from the Romantic movement, which allowed the imagination to go to the threshold of the unknown, the fantastic and the demonic.

3. The Romantics looked at the individual and saw hope. They extolled the beauty of nature.

4. *The Gothic writers saw the potential evil within the individual. *They peered into the darkness of the supernatural instead of the light of nature.

5. 1. Strange or eerie setting where weird and terrifying events take place. 2. Narrators who are insane or on the brink of insanity. 3. Beautiful female characters that are dead or dying.

6. 4. Strange twisting plots that involve extreme situations: *Live Burials *Physical/mental Torture *Hauntings from beyond the grave

7. Edgar Allan Poe Nathaniel Hawthorne The Father of American Gothic

8. Poe thought it was only through the extremity of measures that people would show their true natures. He explored the human mind in these situations to arrive at the essential truth.

9. Hawthorne did not look at the human mind under duress, but rather on the heart. He looked at how the heart reacted under such situations as fear, greed, vanity mistrust and betrayal.

10. The Dark Side of Individualism: Gothic Literature begins in the mid 1760s taking its inspiration from the Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages

11. Gothic Literature “The Imaginative Distortion of Reality” American Gothic got its start from the Romantic movement, which allowed the imagination to go to the threshold of the unknown, the fantastic and the demonic.

12. The Romantics The Romantics looked at the individual and saw hope. They extolled the beauty of nature.

13. Gothic Literature The Gothic writers saw the potential evil within the individual. They peered into the darkness of the supernatural instead of the light of nature.

14. Common Elements of Gothic Literature 1.Strange or eerie setting where weird and terrifying events take place. 2.Narrators who are insane or on the brink of insanity. 3.Beautiful female characters that are dead or dying. 4. Strange twisting plots that involve extreme situations: *Live Burials *Physical/mental Torture *Hauntings from beyond the grave

15. Gothic Literature – The Authors Nathaniel Hawthorne Edgar Allan Poe – The Father of American Gothic

16. Edgar Allan Poe Poe thought it was only through the extremity of measures that people would show their true natures. He explored the human mind in these situations to arrive at the essential truth.

17. Nathaniel Hawthorne Hawthorne did not look at the human mind under duress, but rather on the heart. He looked at how the heart reacted under such situations as fear, greed, vanity mistrust and betrayal.