10 Gothic Symbols For Your Novel

Gothic fiction has a long-standing tradition of using powerful, evocative symbols to enhance its atmosphere, deepen character arcs, and explore complex themes such as death, madness, decay, and the supernatural. The right symbols can heighten the sense of unease and mystery that defines the genre.

1. The Ruined or Isolated Building

Symbolism: Decay, lost grandeur, psychological isolation

One of the most iconic symbols in Gothic fiction is the ruined mansion, castle, or abbey. These structures often represent the decay of a family, institution, or civilization. They may be physically collapsing, overrun with ivy and shadows, but they also reflect emotional and moral ruin.

Use in Your Novel:

• Let the building mirror the protagonist's mental state.
• Create secret rooms or hidden passageways to symbolize buried secrets or traumas.
• Use the building's decline to represent a dying lineage or failing legacy.

Examples: Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre, the House of Usher in Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher

2. Mirrors

Symbolism: Duality, self-reflection, fractured identity

Mirrors are rich with Gothic potential. They can suggest multiple versions of reality, expose a character's inner turmoil, or even act as portals to other realms. In psychological Gothic, they’re often used to depict madness or dissociation.

Use in Your Novel:

• Have a mirror reflect something not physically present.
• Use a cracked mirror to indicate a broken mind or soul.
• Let a character fear their reflection or become obsessed with it.

Examples: The mirror in Dracula that doesn’t reflect vampires, or the many symbolic mirror moments in The Picture of Dorian Gray

3. Blood

Symbolism: Life, death, guilt, sin

Blood is a visceral, powerful Gothic symbol. It can represent vitality and ancestry, but also violence, guilt, and the burden of past sins. In horror-infused Gothic, it’s often used literally and metaphorically.

Use in Your Novel:

• Use blood stains that won’t wash away to symbolize lingering guilt.
• Introduce ancestral bloodlines as a source of both pride and dread.
• Make blood a supernatural element: impossible to explain and terrifying to behold.

Examples: Lady Macbeth’s bloody hands; the recurring blood imagery in vampire literature

4. Fog and Darkness

Symbolism: Obscurity, confusion, concealment of truth

Fog and darkness are essential to Gothic mood-building, for they represent psychological and moral ambiguity. They conceal threats, but also internal conflicts.

Use in Your Novel:

• Set key scenes in the fog to obscure truths and twist perception.
• Let characters physically lose their way, paralleling their mental confusion.
• Use encroaching darkness as a metaphor for moral decay or spiritual loss.

Examples: The moors in Wuthering Heights, or the darkened London of Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

5. The Moon

Symbolism of the moon: The supernatural, madness, femininity

The moon has a long-standing connection with Gothic fiction and folklore. It governs tides and moods, often serving as a silent observer of human folly or horror. It’s particularly associated with lunacy (from luna, Latin for moon), transformation, and mystery.

Use in Your Novel:

• Use a full moon to signal impending doom or transformation.
• Show characters growing uneasy under its light, even if they don’t know why.
• Contrast the pale, ghostly moon with warm candlelight to deepen emotional tones.

Examples: Werewolf lore, Gothic romances featuring midnight revelations

6. Birds (Especially Ravens, Crows, and Owls)

Symbolism: Omens, death, secrets

Birds in Gothic literature often act as harbingers of doom. A crow perched on a gravestone, an owl calling at midnight... these are deeply rooted in folklore and can give your story an eerie, timeless quality.

Use in Your Novel:

• Use a raven as a familiar or mysterious observer.
• Describe birds as acting strangely in the presence of a character to build unease.
• Employ bird imagery to hint at spiritual unrest or coming death.

Examples: Poe’s The Raven, Hitchcock’s The Birds

7. Portraits and Statues

Symbolism: Memory, control, lifeless observation

Portraits in Gothic stories are never just decorative. They are watchful, haunting, and often symbolic of trapped souls or unresolved histories. Statues serve similar purposes, representing frozen emotion or divine (or inhuman) judgment.

Use in Your Novel:

• Have a portrait age while the subject does not.
• Let a statue mysteriously shift position or expression.
• Use these objects to represent control, especially from beyond the grave.

Examples: The Picture of Dorian Gray, haunted portraits in Gothic mansions

8. The Clock

Symbolism: Mortality, fate, inevitability

Clocks are a reminder that time is always ticking, toward death, toward revelation, or toward something unspeakable. When they stop or strike unexpectedly, it can signal supernatural interference.

Use in Your Novel:

• Let a broken clock symbolize a world out of sync.
• Use chimes to build suspense or dread.
• Make a clock strike a specific hour tied to a character’s trauma or guilt.

Examples: Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”, where a clock marks the partygoers’ descent into terror

9. Chains and Locked Doors

Symbolism: Imprisonment, secrets, suppressed desires

Locked rooms and clinking chains are a Gothic staple. They hint at things forbidden, hidden family secrets, repressed memories, or dangers that should never be unleashed.

Use in Your Novel:

• Keep a character locked away, literally or metaphorically.
• Use locked doors as obstacles to truth.
• Create suspense through muffled sounds behind closed doors.

Examples: The madwoman in the attic in Jane Eyre, the forbidden wing of a Gothic mansion

10. Graveyards and Crypts

Symbolism: Death, the past, unresolved history

These spaces serve as liminal zones between life and death, memory and oblivion. They can be tranquil or terrifying, sacred or defiled.

Use in Your Novel:

• Let your characters unearth more than bones: secrets, curses, family shame.
• Make the graveyard a recurring setting that reflects the story’s emotional arc.
• Use crypts to house not just bodies, but old promises or forgotten pacts.

Examples: Frankenstein’s grave-robbing scenes, countless Gothic ghost stories

How To Use Gothic Symbols In Creative Writing?

When incorporating Gothic symbols into your novel, remember that subtlety and consistency are key. Symbols should enrich your story, not overwhelm it. The best Gothic novels use these motifs to underscore emotional arcs, create atmosphere, and hint at deeper meanings beneath the surface action.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Tie symbols to character psychology.
• Repeat symbols to build a motif.
• Subvert traditional meanings for a fresh take on classic imagery.

The WORST thing to do would be to explain your symbols. Let them breathe on their own. If you really can't resist, do it gradually or wait until the end.

Readers of Gothic fiction are keenly attuned to atmosphere and implication. The mere image of a mirror that never reflects correctly or an antique clock that ticks only at midnight is enough to leave an impression.