Editing Gothic fiction (section)

===Precursors===
{{Quote box|align=right|quote=<poem>
'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on.&nbsp;
</poem>
|source=— Lines from Shakespeare's ''[[Hamlet]]''}}
The components that would eventually combine into Gothic literature had a rich history by the time Walpole presented a fictitious medieval manuscript in ''The Castle of Otranto'' in 1764.

The plays of [[William Shakespeare]] were also a crucial reference point for early Gothic writers, in an effort to bring credibility to their works, and to legitimize the emerging genre as serious literature to the public.<ref>{{Cite thesis|author=L. Wiley, Jennifer|url=https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/594386/azu_etd_14308_sip1_m.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Shakespeare's Influence on the English Gothic, 1791–1834: The Conflicts of Ideologies |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=University of Arizona |date=2015 |access-date=May 4, 2022 |hdl=10150/594386}}</ref> His tragedies such as ''[[Hamlet]]'', ''[[Macbeth]]'', ''[[King Lear]]'', ''[[Romeo and Juliet]],'' and ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' incorporated plots revolving around the supernatural, revenge, murder, ghosts, [[witchcraft]], and [[omen]]s. These works, often set in medieval castles and written in dramatic pathos, were a huge influence upon early Gothic authors. Many early Gothic writers frequently quote, and make allusions to Shakespeare's works.<ref>{{Cite thesis |author=Hewitt, Natalie A.|url=https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1080&context=cgu_etd/|title=Something old and dark has got its way": Shakespeare's Influence in the Gothic Literary Tradition |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=Claremont Graduate University |date=2013|access-date=April 29, 2022 |doi=10.5642/cguetd/77 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Another major influence among Gothic writers was [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' (1667), particularly his depiction of the tragic [[anti-hero]] character [[Paradise Lost#Characters|Satan]]. This character became a model for many charismatic Gothic villains and [[Byronic heroes]]. Milton's "version of the myth of the fall and redemption, creation and decreation, is, as ''[[Gothic aspects in Frankenstein|Frankenstein]]'' again reveals, an important model for Gothic plots."<ref>{{Cite thesis|author=Percival, Robert |url=https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10092/11870/Percival_thesis.pdf?sequence=1|title=From the Sublime to the Numinous: A Study of Gothic Qualities in the Poetry and Drama of Shelley's Italian Period |type=MA thesis |publisher=University of Canterbury |date=2013|access-date=April 29, 2022 |hdl=10092/11870 |doi=10.26021/4865 }}</ref>

[[Alexander Pope]] also had a significant role in shaping Gothic fiction. Pope was the first significant poet of the 18th century to write a poem in an authentic Gothic manner.<ref>{{Cite thesis|author=Saraoorian, Vahe |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=bgsu1554464085299421&disposition=inline |title=The Way To Otranto: Gothic Elements In Eighteenth-Century English Poetry |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=Bowling Green State University |date=1970 |access-date=May 4, 2022}}</ref> His poem, ''[[Eloisa to Abelard]]'' (1717), is a tale of star-crossed lovers, one doomed to a life of seclusion in a convent, and the other in a monastery, abounds in gloomy imagery, religious terror, and suppressed passion. The influence of Pope's poem is found throughout 18th-century Gothic literature, including the novels of Walpole, Radcliffe, and Lewis.<ref>{{Cite thesis |author=Virginia Stoops, Marion|url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1166460676&disposition=inline|title=Gothic Elements in Pope's Eloisa to Abelard |type=MA thesis |publisher=Ohio State University |date=1973|access-date=May 4, 2022}}</ref>