Fiducia TogetherGothic and the supernatural
The conventions of Gothic writing, and what they are used for.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
Gothic conventions include a threatening setting, darkness and weather, the uncanny, doubling, transgression, an unreliable or fragmented narrative, and the supernatural.
Where it applies
Nineteenth-century set texts — Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein — and unseen fiction.
How it works
Gothic is about anxiety made physical. Nineteenth-century Gothic externalises fears about science, sexuality, class and empire as monsters and doubles.
The supernatural is often left unresolved, which is more unsettling than an explanation.
How to use it in your work
Link the convention to the anxiety it carries. "The double externalises the Victorian fear that respectability was a performance."
Do not just list conventions. A checklist of Gothic features with no argument is a low-band answer.
Where to get help
Your teacher, your board's mark scheme and its examiners' reports — those say exactly what separates the bands, and they are free.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The English Exam Survival Song How to approach the English papers under time pressure.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.