Evil and the gothic novel

[AliceChell]

What part does evil play in a gothic story? Is the supernatural needed or desirable to enhance it?

[Charybdis]

I prefer human evil. Totally clever, wicked evil.

Gothic is a lot about the interaction between persons, IMHO, so to give the evilness to something not human feels like cheating.

[Penfeather]

I prefer human evil. Totally clever, wicked evil.

Gothic is a lot about the interaction between persons, IMHO, so to give the evilness to something not human feels like cheating.

I agree with this, within the genre. I don't mind supernatural or fantastic elements in a novel so long as I begin with that in mind. I have to know what sort of story I'm getting into; it helps me adjust how far I must suspend belief.

But you're right -- in Gothic Romance, it seems there's an unspoken fair-play system that requires the villain to be of this earth and motivated by common human vices like greed, power-lust, revenge, cruelty . . .

This is also one of the few fiction genres in which it's acceptable for the main love interest to also be the villain, though this isn't always the case. But it makes for a complex, fascinating, psychologically intricate and fully-dimensioned antagonist if he also happens to be romantically involved with the heroine. (She may course-correct later in the story, and transfer her affections to a nicer man who turns out to be the real hero, but this too isn't always the case.)

[AliceChell]

I agree, Charybdis, it seems like cheating to me as well. When the supernatural is brought into a gothic romance, there are no real constraints on an author's imagination--anything goes. It seems to me that we then enter the genre of fantasy.
And that's fine, if it's what you want. But it's not what I like a gothic romance story to be.
Not that I don't believe in the supernatural. I believe, as a Christian, in both God and the existence of our enemy Satan. But the way his power works on earth seems to me unknowable, whereas the evil in human behavior is, alas, all to familiar. At least it's in the realm of our experience.
This may sound like a contradiction, but I think it is an enhancement to a gothic story if it appears that the supernatural is at work--as long as it isn't!

[bronte]

This will sound stupid, but here goes. I like the "Scooby-Doo" type ghosts. Meaning you think its supernatural but learn it's humans behind it all.

[AliceChell]

Bronte, my friend, if it sounds stupid, we sound stupid together!