Lesson C02.2.1

C02.2.1 The Gothic: contexts and themes Quiz: OCR English Literature, Unit 2

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson C02.2.1, The Gothic: contexts and themes: 20 multiple choice questions for the OCR English Literature (H472), Unit 2: Component 02: Comparative and contextual study, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. Which 1764 novel by Horace Walpole is widely recognised as the first Gothic novel?

    • Castle of Otranto
    • Udolpho
    • The Monk
    • Frankenstein

  2. Which psychologist defined the uncanny as something familiar that has become strangely unsettling?

    • Carl Jung
    • Sigmund Freud
    • Jacques Lacan
    • Ivan Pavlov

  3. According to Gothic writer Ann Radcliffe, which emotion expands the soul and awakens the faculties?

    • Horror
    • Terror
    • Despair
    • Disgust

  4. Which term describes a transitional or threshold boundary space frequently featured in Gothic fiction?

    • Liminality
    • Transgression
    • Atavism
    • Abjection

  5. Which philosopher authored the 1757 treatise defining the Sublime through feelings of awe and terror?

    • Edmund Burke
    • Immanuel Kant
    • John Locke
    • David Hume

  6. Which term was coined by Ellen Moers to describe Gothic fiction written by women?

    • Female Sublime
    • Female Gothic
    • Feminist Gothic
    • Domestic Gothic

  7. Which late-nineteenth-century concept reflects widespread anxiety regarding moral decline and evolutionary regression?

    • Transcendence
    • Degeneration
    • Enlightenment
    • Industrialisation

  8. Which theorist coined the term abjection to describe reactions to boundary breakdown and monstrosity?

    • Julia Kristeva
    • Simone de Beauvoir
    • Virginia Woolf
    • Judith Butler

  9. A character encounters an exact physical double who embodies their repressed dark desires. Which Gothic trope is this?

    • Gothic villain
    • Revenant
    • Byronic hero
    • Doppelgänger

  10. A heroine is trapped inside a remote ruined castle by a tyrannical male aristocrat. Which trope is this?

    • Domestic realism
    • Gothic entrapment
    • Pastoral romance
    • Sublime transcendence

  11. In late Victorian Gothic fiction, a character reverts to an aggressive, primitive state. What is this phenomenon called?

    • Anthropomorphism
    • Transcendence
    • Atavism
    • Secularisation

  12. A text explores cultural anxiety associated with the end of the nineteenth century. Which context applies here?

    • Sturm und Drang
    • Age of Enlightenment
    • Fin de siècle
    • Antebellum period

  13. Ann Radcliffe argued that horror differs from terror because horror produces which effect on the reader?

    • Contracts the soul
    • Enlightens the spirit
    • Expands the soul
    • Elevates the mind

  14. A Gothic novel depicts a foreign monster invading London and corrupting citizens. Which fear does this portray?

    • Anti-clericalism
    • Misogyny
    • Xenophobia
    • Luddism

  15. A spectral figure returns from the past to haunt the living. Which Gothic motif is this?

    • The fatal woman
    • The revenant
    • The uncanny valley
    • The Byronic hero

  16. Which character archetype features a charismatic, moody male anti-hero burdened by a dark, mysterious past?

    • Gothic victim
    • Noble savage
    • Tragic hero
    • Byronic hero

  17. Which 1796 Gothic novel by Matthew Lewis shocked readers with explicit depictions of depravity and sorcery?

    • Caleb Williams
    • The Italian
    • Vathek
    • The Monk

  18. Which Italian criminologist influenced late Victorian Gothic fiction with his theories of born criminals?

    • Thomas Carlyle
    • Cesare Lombroso
    • Max Nordau
    • Francis Galton

  19. What term describes the intentional crossing or violation of moral, social, or religious boundaries in Gothic literature?

    • Regression
    • Transgression
    • Suppression
    • Progression

  20. Which literary device involves attributing human emotions to nature to mirror a Gothic character's mood?

    • Anthropomorphism
    • Pathetic fallacy
    • Allegory
    • Symbolism

All OCR English Literature quizzes