Gothic Settings

‘Gothic settings are desolate, alienating and full of menace’ In light of this comment, consider some of the ways in which writers use settings in the gothic texts you have read.

In ‘Macbeth , ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Frankenstein’ , the authors present the settings that conform to the gothic conventions with desolate and alienating settings that are full of menace, however there are also elements that subvert this view of entrapment and portray the settings in a positive light which are also used to show an alternative to the conventional way of life.

Wuthering Heights is set in ‘a perfect misanthrope’s heaven’, which is a secluded and unwelcoming setting. Wuthering Heights is described as being ‘completely removed from the stir of society’ this seclusion from wider society may mean that they have lost the social norms and conducts expected. This is evident in the beginning of the novel as Lockwood is faced by ‘Two hairy monsters’. Lockwood is left unattended; from this readers may infer that hostility has become a norm at the Heights. Additionally, Heathcliff is presented as being extremely antagonistic and is unwilling to allow Lockwood to enter the Heights. As the author initially sets the setting in a “misanthropist” way, it foreshadows future events of parting such as the separation of Heathcliff and Catherine.

Heathcliff feels alienated in the opening of the novel as he is adopted into the Earnshaw family, “from the beginning, he bred bad feeling in the house”. He was never accepted and always felt like an outsider as he was treated like one, “take my colt gipsy”, constantly being treated as a servant and throughout the novel there are frequent diabolical references in relation to Heathcliff, as he was known as the “imp of Satan”. Due to the change in setting in which he was bred, he feels socially alienated against other characters in the novel. Following the death of Catherine in chapter 16, she is buried “on a green slope in a corner of the kirkyard,...