Top Ten Classic British Gothic Novels

Mary Shelley, 2018

Frankenstein is perhaps the most philosophical of all Gothic novels. Victor Frankenstein’s creation of the Monster is an attempt to discover the secret of life, born out of grief over his mother’s death. As a creator, Victor becomes a god, but he abandons his creation. The Monster eventually finds Victor and demands he create a mate for him. When Victor fails to do so, the Monster seeks revenge. Countless critics have discussed how the novel reflects Mary Shelley’s own anxieties over how her creation led to the death of her creator, her mother, in childbirth. The novel is a rewrite of John Milton’s Paradise Lost and the Genesis story of Adam and Eve, raising questions about God’s responsibility toward his human creations.

John Polidori, 2022

This novel introduced Lord Ruthven, the first true vampire in British literature. Lord Ruthven was believed to have been modeled on Lord Byron, who had employed Polidori as his physician. Because it was rumored to have been written by Lord Byron, the novel quickly became a bestseller and inspired countless vampire novels and plays, especially in France. Polidori creates many of the standard elements of vampire literature we know such as the vampire as seducer, the need to keep the vampire’s identity a secret, and that vampires can be revived through moonlight. Lord Ruthven’s popularity would not wane until Dracula’s fame drove a stake into his legacy.

Charles Maturin, 2015

Irish clergyman Charles Maturin wrote a tale of a centuries-old transgressor who is condemned to immortality. The only hope of salvation for Melmoth is to find a woman to share his fate. Using the Gothic story-within-a-story technique adapted from the 1001 Arabian Nights, several characters reveal their experiences with Melmoth, who haunts his family. The novel influenced countless other novels about the Wandering Jew, vampires, and other immortal characters. Oscar Wilde, Maturin’s great-nephew, adopted the name Sebastian Melmoth later in life to reflect his wandering state after he was released from prison.

William Harrison Ainsworth, 2017

The first and possibly best of William Harrison Ainsworth’s many Gothic novels, Rookwood is concerned with issues of legitimacy and inheritance. When the head of the family dies, family members vie for supremacy. A family legend, gypsies, illegitimacy, skeletons, being locked in a tomb to die, romance, and a highwayman are just a few of the Gothic elements that fill this dark rollercoaster-ride of a novel. The novel is a known influence on the Brontë sisters’ work, especially Wuthering Heights. Ainsworth would go on to pen such classics as The Tower of London and The Lancashire Witches.

James Malcolm Rymer, 2012

Perhaps the most popular of all Victorian penny dreadfuls, Varney the Vampire runs well over a thousand pages and was produced in serial format. Varney starts out as a bloodsucking vampire, but as the novel progresses, he becomes more and more sympathetic to the reader, wanting to redeem himself and end his miserable existence. He repeatedly tries to kill himself through such means as throwing himself into a volcano, only to have the volcano spit him out. Nature will not let him die because vampirism is a curse, but finally, in the end, he finds redemption.

George W. M. Reynolds, 2008

Its title likely drawing upon that of Varney the Vampire, Wagner the Wehr-Wolf is the first complete werewolf novel in English. Not only is the main character a werewolf, but the novel is a sequel to Reynolds’ earlier novel Faust, and Wagner is himself cursed after consorting with Faust. The complicated plot is full of terror, transformation, and romance. A highlight of the story is the appearance of the legendary Christianus Rosencrux, founder of the Rosicrucians who knew the secrets of the elixir of life and the philosopher’s stone. Christianus, who is 162 years of age, helps point Wagner toward resolving his werewolfism.

Bram Stoker, 1982

Dracula, drawing upon a century of Gothic tradition, took the best of the Gothic and created the vampire who everyone knows, loves, or fears. Stoker’s story of a Transylvanian count who tries to conquer England has thrilled generations. All the elements of great Gothic literature are here from immortal beings and crumbling castles to shapeshifting and insane asylums. The novel solidifies that vampires can be fought with stakes through the heart, crucifixes, garlic, and eucharistic hosts. Dracula’s ability to communicate via telepathy with his victim Mina as she herself transforms into a vampire is one of the greatest aspects of the novel, one Stoker likely adapted from the French vampire tradition. Bram Stoker’s masterpiece has led to countless films, plays, and in more recent years, sequels and spin-offs. No one is likely to kill off Dracula anytime soon.