Year 8 · English · Gothic fiction · Lesson 4
Gothic villains and victims
How Gothic writers present villains and victims, with extracts from Dracula and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
23-minute video lesson
Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.
Watch free for a monthWhat your child will learn
- Describe typical Gothic villains and victims
- Analyse the description of Count Dracula
- Analyse the description of Mr Hyde
- Explain how a victim is made to seem vulnerable
- Write about character using evidence
The method
- Look at how the character is described: appearance, clothes, actions.
- Quote a short phrase.
- Explore the connotations of key words.
- Explain how the reader feels about the character.
Key words: villain, victim, vulnerable, sinister, connotation, isolation, supernatural.
Worked examples
The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.
Question 1
What is a ‘villain’ in a story?
- Step 1: The main bad character, who causes harm
Answer: The bad character who causes harm
Question 2
What is a typical Gothic ‘victim’?
- Step 1: Innocent, vulnerable, often trapped
- Step 2: Often a young woman in older Gothic stories
Answer: An innocent, vulnerable character, often trapped
Question 3
What colour is Count Dracula dressed in, and what does it suggest?
- Step 1: Black, from head to foot
- Step 2: Black suggests death, evil and mystery
Answer: Black: it suggests death and evil