10 Gothic Examples of How to Use Old Estates

Oh haunted houses, how we love you! There’s something about the old, often decaying estate that speaks to the Gothic soul. In many ways it’s the literary equivalent of an old cemetery. Perhaps it’s the history, the ghosts that haunt that place with their own stories, or just the quiet solitude that accompanies the forgotten things of this world. Regardless, there’s a certain question that these types of places raise that appeals to the deeply intuitive mind.

It’s not surprising that this is an often used Gothic trope, so often that most Gothic novels – even contemporary ones – use some form of an old house or castle. But what does it symbolize? Is it just there to make the book feel Gothic, because we like haunted houses? Or does it have a larger purpose to play?

The answer is yes, crumbling estates, or haunted houses do have a much greater meaning. In this post I’d like to look at what that is and how to both recognize it in the books we love and incorporate it into our own writing. But since haunted houses are so ubiquitous, I thought that it would be easiest if we look at them in groups based on how they’re used in literature.

Beware: some plot spoilers ahead.

The Past

Probably the most obvious and readily accessible answer to the old haunted house is that it represents the past in some way. The house is old, it’s seen the history and drama of all the people that passed through it. It’s easy to see the connection between that literal fact and the symbolism of the past.

The House of Whispers by Jane Purcell, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James have all used an old house in this way.

In The House of Whispers, the protagonist Hester Why is running from her past and instead finds herself in a home where the past holds the present in its grip. It’s not surprising then that Purcell wrote the book as a parallel story between Hester’s encounter with Morvoren House in the present and the history of house’s owner, Louise Pinecroft, in the past. Hester is a surprising character in that she’s very unlikable in many ways. She’s an alcoholic who demands that others need her or else. But at Morvoren House she comes face-to-face with a spell that hangs over the house, a spell that will require the most selfless act if she is to be reconciled to her own past.

In The Shadow of the Wind, the old Aldaya home lies abandoned. But the history of the author Julián Carax is intertwined with the history of this home and the Aldaya family. As the protagonist, young Daniel, unravels the story of what happened there, it is only his discovery of his love for Bea Aguilar in that very house that grounds his discovery of Julián’s lost love for Penélope Aldaya. The house, though crumbling, gives solidarity to the things that would otherwise be lost or intangible like the shadow of the wind.

In The Turn of the Screw, the country house, Bly, holds the ghosts of all of the ways that the prior governess and gardener have tainted the innocence of the two children, Flora and Miles. The gardener, Peter Quint, lurks both inside and outside the house and from the parapet. The former governess, Miss Jessel haunts the grounds of the estate. For the children, there’s no escape from their presence – both literally and figuratively – and the extent to which that past still haunts them.

Notice that in these types of uses, the houses aren’t necessarily destroyed in the end because, of course, the past can’t be destroyed.

Lies & Family Secrets

It’s also not much of a stretch to see why old houses are often used to represent family secrets. What is a house if not for the family that inhabits it? Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young both use old houses to represent the family lies and secrets that reside therein.

In Jane Eyre, Rochester’s house, Thornfield Hall, is just that: a thorn in their present and future. Why? Because it holds a secret part of Rochester’s past that he can’t escape. He tries to hide it from everyone, including Jane, but those types of secrets can never be contained. It’s only after his secret is discovered that he is soon free from it. But at a terrible cost.

In The Gates of Evangeline, the house, Evangeline, plays a role that bridges both the prior category – the weight of the past – and this one. The novel is an admirable contemporary take on classic southern Gothic literature. In southern Gothic writing, an old home – often a plantation – is generally used to represent the idyllic presentation of The South that hides or masks its dark past – often, but not exclusively, a reference to slavery. There’s some of that in this book in the secret homosexual life of one of the family members. But there’s also a much greater family secret (and lie) that is the central point of the book. The house, with its gates, appears to bar itself from those who would take from the family, when in reality, the truth is just the opposite.

The Character(s)’ Mental State

In other novels, the old or haunted house represents the [negative] mental state or flawed perspective of one or more characters, often the protagonist. This is the case in The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

In The Haunting of Hill House, the titular home is studied by a paranormal researcher and two young women with their own unearthly experiences who are on the hunt for evidence of the supernatural. As they progress, the house begins to take over the mind of one of the young women, Eleanor. It becomes clear that the house is nothing but a proxy for her mental instability. She’s seeking a home where she can belong, a home that will give her refuge from her own precarious state. But of course, such a thing doesn’t exist.

In The Little Stranger, the house, Hundreds Hall, actually reflects the antagonist, Dr. Faraday. The little stranger – a ghost-like manifestation that imbues the house with incidents of the uncanny – is his own. As is his greed for wealth and status, the hundreds that possession of such a house would give him. His greed progressively ratchets up, empowering the house with a form of magic that acts out in uncanny events that eventually reach a level of violence that can only be escaped, not resolved.

In Rebecca, the new Mrs. de Winter deals with the weight of the past hanging over her husband’s estate, Manderley. She is faced with a dark family secret that demands resolution. But more than either of these, she must confront her own flawed perspective, birthed in her crippling sense of inferiority. Manderley with its secrets in every corner, haunts her not because the past should control her to that extent, but because she has created a false version of that past.

Notice that unlike other uses of old estates, when the house represents a character’s detrimental mental state, resolution is usually only found by destroying the house or forsaking it (if the character overcomes the negative mental state) or by killing the character (if the mental illness cannot be healed). There’s no other way out.

A Destructive Belief System

The last symbolic use of old houses relates to a belief system – often pervasive – that threatens either the characters themselves or those around them. This was how Stephen King used the old house in Salem’s Lot and how Silvia Moreno-Garcia used the house in Mexican Gothic.

In Salem’s Lot, the protagonist, Ben Mears, sets out to uncover the truth behind the sinister rumors surrounding Marsten House in his hometown of Jerusalem. When a strange newcomer moves into the town and takes up residence in the house, only appearing at night, his arrival coincides with several disappearances. Ben soon discovers that unlike himself, most of the townspeople reject the notion of any real evil and thus are more vulnerable to it.

In Mexican Gothic, Noemí Taboada goes to High Place, the aptly named house of her cousin’s in-laws, to verify her cousin’s claim that she is being held prisoner. As she uncovers the truth, Noemí discovers that the family members – fervent eugenicists – hold a destructive belief about their own superiority and the inferiority of all other people. So much so that they intend to go to drastic measures to perfect those around them. The house also embodies this and acts out against those who are outside of the family. It is – both symbolically and fantastically – the heart of this belief system.

Conclusion

Though these seem quite different from one another, each of these could be said to represent either something that lies beneath the characters (as the foundation of a house does) or is a structure within which they are forced to operate (as a house itself would be). This is why the tangible use of a house fits such a use so well.

If you are crafting your own novel, Gothic or otherwise, and wish to use an old house in highly symbolic ways, consider that. There may be many other options for the house’s underlying meaning. However, it should act in one of these two ways.

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