Walpole's Otranto Castle was the first Gothic novel and was therefore the origin of many distinctive features that have occurred throughout history of the kind. Early Gothic is characterized by the rejection of Enlightenment thought in favor of intense emotion and the supernatural, expressed in this extract notably through the drama of a chase sequence.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Although the passage primarily uses third-person narration, Walpole uses free indirect speech to provide insight into the princess's consciousness. This is manifested through multiple rhetorical questions such as “But where to hide?” ". Giving voice to the princess's conscience helps express a feeling of intense anxiety, fitting the character perfectly into the gothic trope of the damsel in distress. Indeed, the thoughts that were “rapidly running through her mind” reflect the urgency of the “chase” sequence, a characteristic of the Gothic – still reflected today in modern slasher films – where the persecuted woman flees the persecutor. Indeed, these roles also reflect the established social order, since the aristocratic “princess” is the heroine, while Manfred and his “servants” – equated almost with property – are demonized. This reflects the context of early Gothic literature and the strict societal hierarchies that were in place. Religious symbolism is also used in the excerpt, as the princess seeks respite from the "holy virgins" who are supposed to protect her. Walpole reflects the idea of ​​virginity equating to purity, which is juxtaposed with the predatory and sexually charged nature of the hunt. By sanctifying the princess, he presents her as a morally pure victim who needs to be rescued by the deviant Manfred. Religion is also addressed through the alliterated “c”s in the line “whose convent was contiguous to the cathedral”, which induces an almost rhythmic quality. Arguably this highlights the connotations of Catholicism; indeed, an obsession with Catholic practices is characteristic of many early English Gothic novels, for example The Monk, which follows a murderous Catholic monk who preys on young women, or Ann Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udulpho". Walpole is no exception to this trend, and the extract exploits these contemporary fears. Perhaps the most characteristic Gothic element is the setting, including the eponymous castle itself, which dominates almost every line of the passage. Most of the passage takes place in the “underground regions” of the castle, made up of “complex cloisters”, typical of Gothic architecture. Indeed, the beginning of Gothic coincided with a renaissance of this architecture, and Otranto Castle was inspired by a nightmare in Walpole's faux-Gothic house (Strawberry Hill House). In the Gothic novel's narrative, these structures are often outsources of the owners themselves, causing Manfred's almost anthropomorphized castle to take on a predatory nature. In the extract, this is reflected in the “grilling” of the “rusted” hinges, emphasizing the imagery of decadence and the archaic. Moreover, the fluctuations in sound, from the "horrible silence" to the pathetic fallacy of "whistles of wind", suggest that nature itself played an antagonistic role. One could also interpret the exploration of the "long labyrinth of darkness" from a psychological point of view, with the exterior setting becoming a means of exploring the dark recesses of the mind. The last line "she was ready to sink under his..