English

Year 8

Gothic Horror

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Given out: Monday 21 October Hand in: Monday 4 November

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Target

In this Home Learning booklet

you will revise what you have learned this

term…

1) What is meant by the word GOTHIC and

how to spot GOTHIC FEATURES in a

story.

2) A range of GOTHIC vocabulary.

3) How to use a spooky image as

inspiration for your own GOTHIC story.

Warm-up: reading task!

The Grey Woman by Elizabeth Gaskell 1861

1 In mortal terror of people forcing an entrance at such an hour, and in such 2 a manner as to leave no doubt of their purpose, I would have turned to fly 3 when I first heard the noise, only that I feared by any quick motion to catch 4 their attention, as I also ran the danger of doing by opening the door, which 5 was all but closed, and to whose handlings I was unaccustomed. Again, 6 quick as lightning, I bethought me of the hiding-place between the locked

7 door to my husband’s dressing-room and the portiere which covered it; but 8 I gave that up, I felt as if I could not reach it without screaming or fainting. 9 So I sank down softly, and crept under the table, hidden, as I hoped, by the 10 great, deep, table-cover, with its heavy fringe. I had not recovered my 11 swooning senses fully, was trying to reassure myself as to my being in a 12 place of comparative safety, for, above all things, I dreaded the betrayal of 13 fainting, and struggled hard for such courage as I might attain by deadening 14 myself to the danger I was in by inflicting intense pain on myself. You have 15 often asked me for the reason of that mark on my hand; it was where, in 16 my agony, I bit out a piece of flesh with my relentless teeth, thankful for 17 the pain, which helped to numb my terror. I say, I was but just concealed 18 when I heard the window lifted, and one after another stepped over the sill, 19 and stood by me so close that I could have touched their feet. Then they 20 laughed and whispered; my brain swam so that I could not tell the meaning

21 of their words, but I heard my husband’s laughter among the rest – low,

22 hissing, scornful – as he kicked something heavy that they had dragged in

23 over the floor, and which lay near me; so near, that my husband’s kick, in

24 touching it, touched me too. I don’t know why – I can’t tell how – but

25 some feeling, and not curiosity, prompted me to put out my hand, ever so 26 softly, ever so little, and feel in the darkness for what lay spurned beside 27 me. I stole my groping palm upon the clenched and chilly hand of a corpse!

THINK. Look at the first long sentence, lines 1-5. What does this long sentence

tell us about the narrator’s state of mind?

What is GOTHIC HORROR?

…a genre or type of literature, film or TV that

combines fiction and horror, death, and at times

romance.

Famous gothic stories – how many do you recognise?

PUT A TICK NEXT TO THE ONES YOU’VE HEARD

OF.

Gothic features often include:

Scary setting (castle, abandoned house, laboratory)

Ghosts, hauntings or strange events

Anger and revenge

Dramatic weather e.g storms

Many gothic features are used in this description of a strange and lonely place.

The hero of the story, Pip, meets an escaped criminal still with metal chains on

his leg…

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.

"Hold your noise!" cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. "Keep still, you little devil, or I'll cut your throat!"

A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.

Strange settings…

TASK 1: Definitions. Look up the last five words on the list and write a

definition next to it. There are dictionaries in every English classroom or you

could ask your tutor or a family member if they know.

Marsh – land which often floods and is always boggy and dangerous

Bleak – bare, exposed and miserable

Wilderness – an area with not many people living

Dykes – long walls to help prevent flooding

Savage –

Coarse –

Lame –

Flint –

Briar –

TASK 2: Questions on the extract:

1) How far does the marsh land extend out from the sea?

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2) How many named people in the text are buried in the churchyard?

3) What does the escaped criminal threaten to do to Pip?

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4) Name three things that have happened to the man.

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*Try to quote words directly from the text – remember to use quote marks*

Many gothic stories include spooky graveyard settings. Look

closely at the picture below.

TASK 3: Put adjectives in front of the nouns to create descriptive

and interesting NOUN PHRASES.

Example:

Bright,

clouds colourless moon

tree

gravestone

figure

shadow

TASK 5: Change this image into a paragraph.

TASK 4: What remains unknown about this image?

What questions do you have?

My first question is _________________________________________

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My second question is

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TASK 5: Change the graveyard image into a

paragraph.

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*Tip: Describe the objects in the picture and what’s

happening.*

TASK 6: How does the picture make you feel? Complete

the sentence:

The picture makes me feel ______________ and

_____________

because

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You can use some of the ideas and vocabulary from this booklet so

far…

An escaped criminal hides in a graveyard

A strange figure is spotted in the moonlight

A mad scientist creates a potion

Firstly, describe the setting – haunted castle? Dusty laboratory?

Moonlit graveyard? CHALLENGE: Begin the story with three

adjectives e.g. Shadowy, eerie, quiet.

Secondly, introduce a character. Describe clothing and the way

they move. CHALLENGE: Use three adverbs when you describe

the character’s movements.

Now move the story on, your character must come across a

problem – an unwanted guest, a strange noise, an experiment gone

wrong? CHALLENGE: Use onomatopoeia and personification.

Finally, how does the character resolve the problem? Hides?

Attacks? Runs away? Slinks back into the shadows? CHALLENGE:

Include a metaphor in your ending.

TASK 7: Write your own

gothic story

*Tip: Try not to include too much speech as this can slow down the

story and take away the drama. Use lots of description and if you

end on a cliff hanger that’s fine! *

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And finally…

TASK 8: Earn yourself House Points by learning the

following spellings ready for a test in class.

1. Wilderness

2. Gothic

3. Savage

4. Adjective

5. Gruesome

6. Terrifying

7. Language

8. Bleak

9. Noun

10. Character

Practise writing out your spellings below.

(read/cover/write/check/repeat!)

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