The Gothic Novel

The gothic novel was invented  Horace Walpole. The firts gothic novel was The Castle of Otranto who was published in 1764.
 Gothic elements include:

 1. Setting in a castle
 2. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense
 3. An ancient prophecy
 4. Omens, portents, visions
 5. Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events
 6. High, even overwrought emotion
 7. Women in distress
 8. Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male
 9. The metonymy of gloom and horror
 10. The vocabulary of the gothic:

      -  Mystery
      - Fear, Terror, or Sorrow
      -  Surprise
      -  Haste
      -  Anger
      -  Largeness
      -  Darkness

sourse: