Gothic literature, as we know, depicts the uncanny or illogical. It shows us things in an eerie way. According to Sigmund Freud, we all experience this uncanny feeling in relation to death. He brings out that the fear of the dead or death is an experience that we have had from the beginning of civilization. Freud attributes this feeling to our insufficient scientific knowledge about death and the strength of our original emotions in regard to death. This reluctance to accept our state of mortality accounts for the ease in summoning such emotions at the slightest provocation. Gothic literature, he claims, can meld with our intolerable view of death by portraying things in fiction as they would be if they occurred in real life, thus it would coincide with realties of which we are familiar. It could also stray completely from the realities of life, but must stay that way in order to be successful in conjuring some emotional response. Gothic literature, thus, feeds on our fear to make us believe in a world that does not exist.
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