Where’s the Poison in Gothic Literature?

Gothic Writing & Poison

This struck me as odd. Gothic themes are an exploration of the irrational things such as the spiritual world or psychological occurrences. These types of themes are inherently subtle. They deal with those things that are unseen, that can’t be reasoned or experienced through our senses.

In many ways they’re like poison and should be particularly compatible.

Of course, we aren’t always killing off characters in Gothic literature. Or if we do so, poison may not fit the story particularly well. But currently there’s a disproportionately few number of Gothic tales with any poison.

Why is that?

I have two theories. The first is that writing about poison generally requires a significant amount of knowledge about the science of chemical means of killing, disfiguring or otherwise maiming our fellow man. It’s the kind of knowledge that can run off track, taking the would-be Gothic writer down a scientific trail that’s more technical than most Gothic writers seem to enjoy.

It’s the domain of Mystery or Science Fiction writers who are generally more interested in concrete details. The obvious example is, of course, Agatha Christie, who employed poison quite often. So much so that her use of strychnine was mentioned in the Pharmaceutical Journal and she was accused of providing a handbook to would-be murderers.¹

Writers in general tend to be intuitive thinkers, but if I were to wager a guess, I would say that Mystery and Science Fiction writers most likely contain a disproportionate number of sensors. The sheer presence of so many concrete details lends itself to more of a sensing mind. (And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t worry about it – it’s a Myers-Briggs thing.)

The point is, poison encompasses so many more technical details than say the use of guns or knives, that it probably appeals to a different type of writer than we’d usually find in the Gothic sphere.

And second, I think that writers have become less enamored of some of the classic poisons. We don’t have cyanide and strychnine lying around the house in the same way that people did a hundred years ago (although it’s present to a lesser extent). And modern forensics can determine exactly what a person ingested so that there’s less mystery involved. That takes away some of the Gothic emphasis on what can’t be proven.

But not entirely.

The Place for Poison

I think you can see that these are somewhat paltry excuses. There may not be strychnine in our modern medicine cabinets, but there’s Diaxinon in the garage, opiates in the bathroom, and lye in our cleaning stash.

And Gothic writers may not be as keen on technical details as those writers in the Mystery or Science Fiction categories, but we’re no strangers to research. We love digging into the details behind our characters’ psychological states (or disorders 😉 or the historical time period in which our story takes place.

Which brings me back to my original assessment: there’s a place for poison in Gothic literature. Before we look at how we can use it most effectively, let’s look at three examples of how it has been used.

Poison in Literature

[Warning: plot spoilers ahead!]

The most striking example of poison in Gothic literature is in We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I talk about this novella quite a lot, partly because it’s my favorite and partly because it’s one of the most brilliant works of literature, so I’ll keep it short and focused strictly on the poison. As the story opens, we learn that all of the Blackwood family has died by poisoning except for Uncle Julian, who is alive but dying and Merricat and her sister Constance.

Of course it’s Merricat who has killed the entire family. Jackson hints at this from the first paragraph. And the theme – the individual versus the village – requires it. The Blackwood family functions as a microcosm of the greater community in this story – a community that is at odds with those outside of it. Readers have to see the lengths that the individual must go to in order to protect herself from the violent and invasive community. But did it have to be poison?

I’d say, yes. It’s the only weapon that really works. The village isn’t opposed to the individual simply because she’s an individual; the village itself is comprised of a group of individuals. Rather, it’s because the individual as Jackson presents her is someone who doesn’t conform. She can’t be controlled. That lack of conformity means that she’s likely to alter the village, to make it something new, different. She’s a liability to the status quo. She’s something of a poison and needs to use that as a weapon against the kind of control and dominance that the village would like to exert over her.

Nevernight

My next two examples are outside of the Gothic sphere. They’re Dark Fantasy. Nevernight, the first book in the trilogy by Jay Kristoff is technically a Young Adult tale [that borders on Adult literature] about Mia, a young girl who wants to be an assassin of the Red Church so that she can take revenge on the men who destroyed her family. I made a YouTube video about this book that you can find here.

Shock of all shocks, Mia makes it to the school to be trained. Once there, the would-be assassins are trained in everything from combat to seduction to…you guessed it, poison. Mia is quickly set apart as one of the best at understanding the underlying chemistry of poison, at identifying it and predicting how it will react. It’s no surprise when she becomes the leader in this area.

But why poison?

If you’ve read the book, you know that there are several enemies from within. At the beginning of the book, Mia’s father – one of the top members of the Senate – is found guilty of a plot to overthrow the government and is executed. From the perspective of the current establishment, he is an enemy within.

Then Mia joins the Nevernight school. Inexplicable murders happen leading up to Mia’s discovery that there is an enemy within the school – someone who stands with the government and intends to undermine the Red Church.

And of course there’s Mia who comes from one of the prominent government families and yet is now determined to bring down that government. She is also an enemy within.

Each of these is like a poison in the system – for or against one side or the other. Thus, Mia’s interest in and use of poison is perfectly in keeping with the theme and plot of the novel.

The Assassin’s Apprentice

If you like Fantasy and haven’t read The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s amazing. It’s darker than the average Fantasy novel, but so much more nuanced and yet accessible to more readers than some Fantasy might be. (No strange other-world landscapes or inhuman beings in this one.)

Her first book, The Assassin’s Apprentice, introduces us to Fitzchivalry, the royal bastard. In the first book he’s a young boy – spanning the time between when he’s six-years-old and into his teen years – and she identifies something that many of us non-historians have never considered: the liability of a royal bastard.

Since he’s technically of the royal family, Fitz has a rightful claim to be in the line to the throne. That’s a problem for the king. Bastards are by nature something of a poison in the royal family – a liability from within. The best thing to do with a bastard (other than kill them, of course) is to put them to use for the throne. Thus, Fitz is inducted into the world of poisons. He’s put to work apprenticing to be a royal assassin.

I think you can see why poison fits the situation. Instead of allowing Fitz to be a poison for the king, he makes Fitz into one who uses poison to rid the kingdom of the king’s enemies. Perfectly fitting.

How to Use Poison in Your Writing

Now that we’ve covered a few examples of how poison is used (and why it should be), how can we use it in writing? Hopefully these will give you some ideas and get you thinking.

1. A woman is trapped in a toxic work environment in which she is ridiculed and demeaned because she is different from the corporate culture. She’s able to slowly progress in her career due to hard work and results that no one can deny: a significant client who refuses to work with anyone other than her. But as she ascends the corporate ladder, she uncovers an extensive amount of unethical and sometimes even illegal behavior. In one case, the company is cutting corners in global locations so that some of the workers and many of the residents in developing nations are dying due to the poor work conditions and the chemical polluting that the plants are generating. The problem is that the chairman of the board is a long-time friend and golfing partner of the local district attorney and other powerful members of the local government. They are investors in and beneficiaries of the company’s performance. Therefore, they are complicit and willing to turn a blind eye to what the company is doing. The main character finally cracks and quietly begins to poison the leaders of the company, using her own means to do to them what they have been doing to so many others.
2. A young couple has two young children that they now regret. As they’ve discovered a world of power and fame that requires their full attention and devotion, the children have become a liability to their personal goals. They take more and more drastic actions to close the children off from the outside world, to isolate and neglect them so that they have more freedom to pursue their own gains. The oldest, a boy of fourteen, is a clever and enterprising boy who’s obsessed with science. As their parents act more and more aggressively against him and his younger brother, he concocts a plan to retaliate. A plan that involves poison. The children, a poison to the parents’ plans for greatness, will use actual poison to destroy their prisoners.
3. An orphan marries into a family who seem to have everything going for them. They’re the all-American small town family. He’s grateful to be part of the kind of family he never had. Shortly afterwards though, they begin to employ psychological means such as gaslighting to break him down. He discovers that what they really want from him is his genetic matter: they want him to breed with each of their daughters, not just his wife, to produce a family that will be large enough and intelligent enough to take over the power base in their area. Soon he’s a psychological prisoner in their house. As his mind vacillates between lucidity and confusion, he discovers a way to foil their plans. But to do so he has to destroy himself, to make himself into a poison that will kill their daughters and their offspring…along with himself.

Hopefully you can see why each of these marries poison to the theme in the work. That’s what makes poison so effective – when it isn’t used as a random medium, but rather as an extension of the theme so that it’s a natural conclusion.

Let me know if you’re using (or have used) poison in your writing, or if you know of examples that you’ve read and enjoyed!

And, as always, if you enjoyed this post, share it with your friends!

¹ Twilley, N. Agatha Christie and the Golden Age of Poisons. The New Yorker. September 8, 2015. Accessed May 2022. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/agatha-christie-and-the-golden-age-of-poisons