The Castle of Otranto

The Castle of Otranto sets the standards for the Gothic fiction. Components of the novel would later define the genre, including:

Gothic architecture

Lines of succession

The decline and fall of an ancient bloodline

Doppelgangers

Psychological terror

Questions of incest

Fantastical horror and supernatural events

Tyrannical patriarchal power

Threatened female

Ancient prophecy

Dark omens...