Introduction
Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the subgenre of Gothic horror, is a genre or
mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death and at times romance. Its
origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel “The Castle of
Otranto”, subtitled “A Gothic Story”. Gothic fiction tends to place emphasis on both emotion and
a pleasurable kind of terror, serving as an extension of the Romantic literary movement that was
relatively new at the time that Walpole’s novel was published.
“Gothic” also alludes to a style of grand, ornate architecture in France in the 12th century.
Gothic literature includes lots of haunted houses, cobwebbed castles, derelict churches and other
once-glorious architecture that has fallen into disrepair. Dark, cramped and claustrophobic
interiors with hidden doors and secret passageways, settings with hidden skeletons are found in
gothic literature. The outside world in Gothic literature is usually portrayed as being a dark, wild
and treacherous place full of wrathful weather, malevolent forests, and ghostly graveyards.
Common Gothic plots include revenge, familial secrets, prophecies and curses. The past is
somehow still living, breathing, and suspenseful feelings of fear, shock, dread, or disgust in the
reader Monsters, demons, witches, ghosts, banshees, vampires and other supernatural creatures
often play parts in Gothic fiction.
In the most general terms, Gothic literature can be defined as writing that employs dark
and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices and an overall atmosphere
of exoticism, mystery, fear and dread. Often, a Gothic novel or story will revolve around a large,
ancient house that conceals a terrible secret or serves as the refuge of an especially frightening
and threatening character. A few of the most influential and popular 18th century Gothic writers
were Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otranto, 1765), Ann Radcliffe (Mysteries of Udolpho,
1794), Matthew Lewis (The Monk, 1796) and Charles Brockden Brown (Wieland, 1798).
Elements of Gothic fiction are prevalent in several of the acknowledged classics of 19 th century
literature, including Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” (1818), Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The House of
the Seven Gables” (1851), Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” (1847), Victor Hugo’s “The
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831 in French), and many of the tales writes by Edgar Allan Poe
such as “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) and “The Tell-Tale Heart”(1843).
The selected short stories “The Judge’s House” and “Dracula’s Guest” by Bram Stoker
were published in 1891 and 1914. These two short stories are chosen to investigate because of
the rich of vocabularies which are appropriate for the atmosphere of gothic. Bram Stoker was an
Irish author, best known today for his 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he
was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and business manager of the
Lyceum Theatre, which Irving owned. This research tries to find out the use of gothic elements
in the stories “The Judge’s House” and “Dracula’s Guest” by Bram Stoker are presented. There
are many researchers who stated the various kinds of gothic traditions. This research focused on
the use of twelve gothic elements proposed by Robert Harris (2017)
The aim of this research is to study the gothic elements in the selected short stories, “The
Judge’s House” and “Dracula’s Guest” by Bram Stoker. The objectives of this research are to
identify the gothic elements found in the selected short stories and to find out the impact of
gothic elements on the plot development of the short stories.