Gothic novels in english literature plan introduction the Rise of Gothic Fiction in England

Gothic Romance Novels

'Gothic Romance' is popularly used to describe the early Gothic novels of the 18th century. These were filled with both adventure and mystery, and they quickly grew in demand. A typical romance would be character-driven, and would feature a quest for love or some form of 'happily ever after.'
Gothic Romances added a twist to the typical romance, often by featuring a distressed heroine haunted by memories or melancholia, or perhaps a Byronic hero whose grand journey to unite with his love is filled with tragedy. Gothic Romances also lend a dark atmosphere and add a sense of foreboding to the narrative.
When it comes to Gothic Romances, suspense and sensation were also key ingredients – ingredients that would also come together in the development of the Sensation novel in the mid to late 19th century.
This novel is widely considered a key text in the canon of the Gothic Romance genre, and the Western literary canon as a whole. The novel broke free from Victorian literary expectations by exploring psychological depth in the narrative for both female and male characters.
The story opens in 1801 as Mr Lockwood visits his landlord who lives at Wuthering Heights. Snowed in, Lockwood is obliged to stay the night and is haunted by the phantom of Catherine Earnshaw. When Lockwood is confined to bed after catching a cold on the Yorkshire moors, he asks his housekeeper to tell him about the resident of Wuthering Heights. The housekeeper, Nelly Dean, then describes the intense and stormy relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff. Catherine died in childbirth some twenty years earlier and haunts Heathcliff. Lockwood recovers and leaves the area. Less than a year later, he visits Wuthering Heights and learns that Heathcliff has died, and the ghosts of Heathcliff and Catherine have been seen on the moors.
Ann Radcliffe was instrumental in developing the Gothic novel genre, but despite the terror and suspense of her novels, Radcliffe had a shy, retiring nature, and never visited the countries her novels are set in. Her works include The Romance of the Forest (1791) and The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794):

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  The Romance of the Forest Set in 17th century France, the novel contains a ruined abbey with secret rooms and mysterious objects including a skeleton, a manuscript, and a rusty dagger, adding to the novel's atmosphere of the macabre. In the novel, the heroine, Adeline, takes refuge in the abbey but discovers that her wicked uncle, the Marquis de Montalt, murdered his own brother to usurp the property and Adeline’s inheritance.
  

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  The Mysteries of Udolpho The novel is set in late 16th century France and Italy in a medieval castle that contains many ghastly omens and a typically Gothic villain, Montoni. The orphaned Emily St Aubert leaves France to live with her aunt in Italy. Her aunt’s new husband, the sinister Montoni, imprisons Emily and her aunt in the castle. However, his plans to seize their fortunes are thwarted and Emily escapes to be reunited with her lover Valancourt.