Practice Questions for AQA English Literature B Specification – Gothic, part B of the exam paper

‘In Gothic fiction, transgression both restores and contests boundaries.’ How far does your reading of three Gothic texts support this view?

‘Threats are spiced with thrills, terrors with delights, horrors with pleasures.’ How far do you agree with this view of Gothic writing?

‘Gothic settings do not evoke terror or horror. They exist as signs of internal states and conflicts than of external threats.’ To what extent does your reading of Gothic writing support this view?

‘There is no exit from the darkly illuminating labyrinth of language.’ To what extent do you agree that this is the principle horror of Gothic writing?

‘Gothic writing is excessive and deficient.’ How far do you agree with this reading of the texts you have studied?

‘Gloomy and mysterious Gothic atmospheres signal the disturbing return of pasts upon presents.’ How far do you agree that it is the disturbing return of the past that is the most significant aspect of Gothic texts?

How far do you agree that ‘Gothic writing is fascinated by objects and practices that are negative, irrational, immoral and fantastic’?

‘In Gothic fiction certain stock features provide the principal embodiments and evocations of cultural anxieties.’ What do you take these ‘stock features’ to be, and how far do you agree with the statement itself?

‘Gothic landscapes are desolate, alienating and full of menace.’ How far does your reading of three Gothic texts support this view?