The word goth or gothic has really been bastarized over time. So today when soemone speaks of the gothic there is a particular image or idea that comes to mind. Usually relating to a particular clothing style, type of make-up, hair style, the use of black, obcession with death, and so on. Gothic now is genreally identified with a particular group or clique of people most of whom who probaly do not even know what real goth is. So I will go over where gothic really came from and what it truly ment.
To start with the word Gothic or Goth came orginally from germantic tribes who were called the Goths, and they were one of the factors that led to the fall of the Roman Empire. They were a particular bloody, war-like and meaundering tribe. It was from the Goths in which gothic arctitecture was formed. Which most people are familler with. Some of the most famous cathedrals of Europe are done in the gothic style. The gothic cathedrals were large towering buildings with the flying buttresses, and high towers, use of arches, and so on.
Later down the road from there was the birth of the Gothic novel in the Romantic/Victorian age. One of the most famous of these is Frankenstien (the book is a completely different thing then the movie) but for the most part the gothic novel was not a horror story. There were certain elements which were needed to make a gothic novel, they were often suspenseful with sense of mystery, a hint of the supernatual. Gothic novels usually were a social commentary and critique, a story which was ment to show the people of the time what was wrong with thier world. Jane Eyre and Northhanger Abbey are both gothic novels.
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