Lesson video

I'm Miss Howell.

Welcome to today's English lesson.

All you'll need for our learning today is a pen and a piece of paper.

So take a moment to make sure that you have everything you need at hand for our learning today.

Clear yourself of any distractions, so that you are ready to start our lesson.

Our lesson today is going to focus on Gothic conventions.

So we are going to be understanding what Gothic conventions are and learning how to recognise them.

Please take a moment to write down your title for the lesson, Gothic conventions, pausing the video here to complete that now.

Our key piece of vocabulary for our lesson today is the Tier three vocabulary, conventions.

It is Tier three vocabulary because this is a piece of subject-specific terminology for English.

I would like you to take a moment to read the definition of conventions on the side and you need to make a note of the key word and the definition on your piece of paper, underneath your title.

Pause the video here to do that now.

we're going to now look at elements of the Gothic novel.

The Gothic novel was invented almost single-handedly by Horace Walpole in his novel, "The Castle of Otranto" in 1764.

It contain essentially all the elements that constitute the genre.

We are now going to look at some specific Gothic conventions.

I'm going to take you through the conventions one by one and your task later in the lesson will be to make a note of these.

So it might be worthwhile pausing the video as we go through each of the conventions and taking down some notes.

That's up to you.

Pause the video as and when you need to.

So the first Gothic convention we're going to look at is that often there are dark abandoned, decaying settings.

Gothic also alludes to a style of grand, ornate architecture in France, in the 12th century.

In Gothic literature, you see lots of haunted houses, cobwebbed castles, derelict churches and other once glorious architecture that has fallen into disrepair.

You also see dark, cramped and claustrophobic interiors with hidden doors and secret passageways, settings with hidden skeletons.

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.

The second convention that we're going to look at is there's often an atmosphere of mystery and suspense.

So the work is pervaded by a threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown.

Often, the plot itself is built around a mystery, such as unknown parentage, a disappearance, or some other inexplicable event.

The third convention is omens, portents, visions.

A character may have a disturbing dream vision, or some phenomenon may be seen as a portent of coming events.

For example, if the statue of the lord of the manor falls over, it may portend his death.

Fourthly, often what we would find typically within a Gothic story is supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events.

Dramatic, amazing events occurs such as ghosts or giants walking or inanimate objects such as a suit of armour or painting coming to life.

In some works, the events are ultimately given a natural explanation while in others, the events are truly supernatural.

Then another convention is there's often high, even overwrought emotion.

The narration may be highly sentimental and the characters are often overcome by anger, sorrow, surprise and especially terror.

Characters suffer from raw nerves and a feeling of impending doom.

Crying and emotional speeches are frequent.

Restlessness and panic are common.

There is also often a woman in distress.

As an appeal to the pathos and sympathy of the reader, the female characters often face events that leave them fainting, terrified, screaming and/or sobbing.

A lonely, pensive and oppressed heroine is often the central figure of the novel, so her sufferings are even more pronounced and the focus of attention.

And then we also often have women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male.

One or more male characters has the power as King, lord of the manor, father or guardian to demand that one or more of the female characters do something intolerable.

The woman may be commanded to marry someone she does not love.

It may even be the powerful male himself, or commit a crime.

So your task is to now encapsulate what you have learned into notes.

It might be an idea to draw those notes up into a table, such as the one on the slide.

So you could organise your notes into their Gothic convention and what the Gothic convention is.

Then take down some notes on what that means and give a bit of explanation about that convention.

And if you would like to, you could support that with an image, if you have any artistic skills that you think would really support your understanding of those conventions, that's entirely up to you.

Pause the video here to complete your task now.

We are now going to look at metonymy.

Metonymy is a subtype of metaphor in which something, like rain, is used to stand for something else, like sorrow.

For example, the film industry likes to use metonymy as a quick shorthand, so we often notice that it's raining in funeral scenes, for example.

Add this to your vocabulary list, if this is a new piece of subject terminology for you.

So if you had never come across metonymy before, please pause the video here to get down that new piece of tier three terminology and the definition.

Your next task is to create a mind map of metonymy that suggests mystery, danger or the supernatural form.

So an example of a metonymy that would suggest danger or mystery, or the idea of the supernatural is clanging chains, which often usually represent impending danger.

So I want you to think of in any novels or perhaps films that you've seen, what metonymy have you come across? Pause the video here to complete that now.

We will now review your answers.

It would be a good idea to take a different coloured pen, so that you can take down these notes on metonymy that suggest mystery, danger, or supernatural to your own work and it will really show what you were able to do in independent task and what you have learnt through the feedback.

So, looking at the slide, here are some examples of metonymy that you could have had.

Remember to pause the video if you need to, in order to add these to your own notes.

So howling wind or rain, especially blowing gusty rain, doors grating on rusty hinges, the sound of footsteps approaching, lights in abandoned rooms, especially if they kind of seem to come on out of nowhere.

Often, that could be a sign of the supernatural.

Characters being trapped in a room.

Ruins of buildings, sighs, moans, howls or any kind of eerie sounds.

Often, the idea of clanking chains, gusts of wind suddenly blowing out lights, or doors suddenly slamming shut for no apparent reason.

Crazed laughter, baying of distant dogs or even wolves.

And of course, thunder and lightning.

So remember just to pause the video, if you need to, to allow yourself to get down that feedback.

We will now read through the extract from the Gothic novel, "The Mysteries of Udolpho" by Ann Radcliffe.

I'd like you to pay particular attention as we read through to the Gothic convention you can spot.

"Emily gazed with melancholy awe upon the castle, which she understood to be Montoni's for though it was now lighted up by the setting sun, the Gothic greatness of its features and its mouldering walls of dark grey stone rendered it a blooming and sublime object.

As she gazed, the light died away on its walls, leaving a melancholy purple tint, which spread deeper and deeper as the thin vapour crept up the mountain, while the battlements above was still tipped with splendour.

From those too, the rays soon faded and the whole edifice was invested with the solemn duskiness of evening.

Silent, lonely and sublime, it seemed to stand the sovereign of the scene and to frown defiance on all who dared to invade it's solitary reign.

As the Twilight deepened, its features became more awful in obscurity and Emily continued to gaze till its clustering towers were alone seen rising over the tops of the woods, beneath whose thick shade the carriages soon after began to ascend." I would now like you to write down the examples of Gothic conventions that you found in the extract and, where possible, I would like you to support that with quotation.

Again, as a suggestion, you could make these notes in a table format, as suggested on the slide.

And you could include within the notes section the quotations to support.

Again, if you have some artistic talent, you might decide to support those notes with an image to really reaffirm your understanding.

Here is an example of what you could do.

So a Gothic convention that is clearly within the extract is the dark abandoned setting that we have.

And the quotations that I've used to support that are the castle and "mouldering walls of dark grey stone" and it's creating that image for the reader of a really typical Gothic castle and really create that kind of unnerving sense.

So if you were not sure exactly what I was expecting from the task, there is an example for you.

And as I've said in the image section, you might decide to draw your own image there.

That's absolutely fine.

Pause here to complete that task now.

We will now review your answers.

So, again using that different coloured pen, if you've got one, it would be really useful to take down this feedback in that different colour so that you can clearly see the Gothic conventions you were able to spot independently and the ones that you have been able to get down, based on this feedback.

So well done if you were able to spot the Gothic convention within the extract of an atmosphere of mystery and suspense.

We clearly have those quotations that link into that atmosphere of gloomy, silent, sublime, thick shade.

And what this really does for the reader is that Radcliffe is creating a tone of trepidation in her really ominous setting.

So pause the video as and when you need to, to allow yourself to take down any of this feedback that you did not have.

Then, we also have a potential woman in distress.

Really well done if you were able to spot that in your independent tasks because that wasn't necessarily a very obvious convention.

And our quotation to support that, "Emily gazed with melancholy awe" and "Emily continued to gaze." So the image that this really brings up for us as a reader is that this woman seems to be transfixed.

And there's an unnerving sense because if we combine this with the ominous setting, it makes the reader wonder whether Emily is in a dangerous situation.

That brings us to the end of the lesson, once you have taken down any feedback.

So thank you for your focus today and I hope you have enjoyed our learning.