Rarely Used Methods That Fit the Genre
Last time, we looked at some of the most common methods of murder in Gothic writing. Since the genre features a murder more often than not, we had numerous options from which to choose, including the most prevalent one—vampirism. In case you missed it, you can find the post here: Murder in Gothic Writing [Pt. 1]. Perhaps surprisingly though, there aren’t as many different means of murder as you might expect, at least in well-known works. Therefore, this week we’ll examine three relatively unique choices for a Gothic murder and why they would work well in this genre. I also touch on three methods that would be much harder to use.
Fire/ Immolation
Fire isn’t unheard of in Gothic writing. Fire (especially via sunlight) is used to destroy vampires in numerous works. However, non-vampiric murders via fire are less common. In the last post I mentioned Bertha’s attempt [twice] to murder Mr. Rochester via fire in Jane Eyre. Mrs. Danvers kills herself [not really murder] via fire in Rebecca. And there’s an attempted murder via fire in The Woman in White. It’s likely the most common option on my list of uncommon methods. However, murder via fire is still relatively rare in Gothic writing and it’s a good choice.
The reason for its fit in the genre is that burning something down tends to be inherently symbolic of so many themes that suit this style of writing. For example, consider the following types of themes:
- The desire to completely eradicate the past symbolized by a person, but perhaps also a place
- Purifying someone/ something, even oneself in order to be reborn in some way
Strangulation/ Suffocation
I can’t think of a single use of strangulation or suffocation in Gothic writing although I’m sure it’s there and I’m either forgetting it or just plain unaware. That said, it’s definitely rare and also fitting. In either case, a person’s voice and/or lungs are directly targeted. That’s oh so useful in so many ways. It would work with any theme that ties into the suppression of a person’s [figurative] voice/ expression, or in cases in which a character has no freedom (no room to breathe). For example:
- A child (or spouse) strangles an oppressive parent (or lover) as a symbol of her constant struggle for freedom
- A serial killer who for any number of possible reasons, feels unheard and strangles his victims as a means of finding his own voice
Hunting/ Game Playing
This last suggestion is the type of thing you may have seen in movies more often than on the page. Dan Simmons utilized it well in Carrion Comfort. In the book, Nazi leaders play a deadly form of human chess with their Jewish prisoners. As the colonels battle one another on the life-size chess board, any time one man takes another’s “piece” he kills the prisoner standing in that place.
This type of murder could also involve intentionally freeing a captive solely for the sport of hunting him or her. I think you can instantly see why this is fitting, but consider the following themes:
- A monarch or political leader who, with his elite class of nobles, hunts the common people rather than deer as a symbol of their view of commoners as either expendable or even worthless
- A nurse who resents her inability to be a doctor and to control other’s lives. Each day she plays a form of Russian roulette with her patients, choosing one to die
Methods that Wouldn’t Work As Well?
Let’s briefly touch on three types of methods that would be harder to use.
First, and most obviously, any form of raw brutality – beating, bludgeoning, dismemberment – will be tricky because it tends to take the focus away from the subtle, unseen Gothic theme. At the very least, these won’t parallel this sort of theme and therefore will likely feel out of proportion with the rest of the work.
Second, most on-the-nose methods of murder such as shooting or stabbing are too lacking in nuance to work well with Gothic writing in which the truth is deliberately hidden behind symbolic tropes and loads of atmospheric subtext. However, there is always an exception. We looked at an exception of each of these in the last post: one from Child of God by Cormac McCarthy (shooting) and one from My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due (stabbing) and why they are successful.
Third, more modern hands-off methods such as cutting someone’s break line in her car, or using an assassin will be challenging. The farther the murderer is removed from the crime, the less closely it ties into the psychological or spiritual state of the perpetrator. That will almost always undermine it’s effectiveness in Gothic writing in which those things are the most essential.
Conclusion
I think you can see the intent here. There may be many other options that would work just as well or better than these, but they need to mirror a Gothic theme’s subtlety and they need its symbolic intent. The choice of a character’s murder isn’t an arbitrary one. It’s a matter of choosing what fits your theme most adeptly.
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