2.3 Rich Exoticism 8

Ⅲ The Bizarre Plots 9

3.1 Revenge and Murder 9

3.2 Dreams and Prophecies 10

3.3 Reality and Surrealism 11

Ⅳ The Gloomy Figures 12

4.1 The Mortal Human Beings 12

4.2 The Supernatural Creatures 14

Ⅴ Conclusion 17

Bibliography 17

Gothic features in Harry Potter Series

ⅠIntroduction

The word “Gothic” is of much associative meanings that the whole concept of it seems often unable to define and is so elusive. But the elements in Gothic novels are quite obvious——mysterious castles, secrets, ghosts, dark forests, monsters, murders, etc. As one of the most popular series novels around the world, the success of Harry Potter series largely depend on J.K.Rowling’s effective manipulation of the various Gothic elements.

1.1 Introduction of Gothic Novel

Gothic is the term originally used to describe things pertaining to the Gothic people and then reused in a variety of contexts.

The Goths were traditionally thought to have originated in northern Europe and moved south towards the borders of Roman Empire in the 2nd century. Eventually they occupied territories in modern Germany, Spain and Italy. The Goths became a byword for northern barbarism. From the sixteenth century, their name was given to the dominant architectural and artistic style of the late medieval period, which had originated in France in the twelfth century.

The word “Gothic” has rich meanings in English. It is a literary term, a historical term, but also a special term for architecture and art. Gothic novels, which began in the late eighteenth century, is a special genre of “black romantic literature”. The so-called “black” is mainly reflected in two aspects: in the circumstances of violence and terror thick and heavy in colors; in-depth exploration by revealing the human nature in the dark themes, especially the exploration on moral. The Gothic novel uses supernatural  materials,   fiction   and  imagination,   surreal   and realistic artistic portrayal of the extraordinary events, showing extreme scenes and being committed to the performance of the inner world of the task. At the same time, with its powerful shock strength, it reveals the dangers and evils, trying to shake the ignorance and numbness of the heart. The genre of the novel has broadened the field of novel creation and enriched the artistic expression of the novel. Therefore, although the Gothic novel has been excluded from the mainstream literature and the elite literature from the date of its birth, it is often referred to as a marginal literature. However, the figure in the process of continuous development  of literature has repeatedly surfaced. This kind of novels come into prosperity in the last eighteenth century. It influences the aftermath of its sensational practices and other important aspects, from Bront to Dickens period to the contemporary English literature, and continues to exert its influence.

The style became idealized in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries along with Romanticism, leading to the architectural Gothic revival, which begins in Britain but spreads to continent of Europe and North America. That’s when medieval buildings were restored and large numbers of civil, ecclesiastical and educational buildings were built in a medieval style.