A Gothic Recipe

Before you begin, it is essential to partake in thorough preparation.

Your key ingredient will be your protagonist. You may use either male or female, although your choice will invariably alter the end product as each is composed slightly differently.

Male. Usually a byonic hero. Intelligent, sophisticated and educated but yet struggling with emotional conflict. Think Dr Faustus, Dr Frankenstein, someone of that ilk
Or Female. Young, vulnerable, alone but curious and independent.

Basic Ingredients (based on Dr Faustus)

• Hero (Dr Faustus), a strong protagonist will bind the other characters together.
• Tyrant (Mephistopheles), equivalent to a dash of dark chocolate, bitter but yet oh so tempting
• Stupid Servant (Wagner), accents the hero to provide a more thorough flavour development. Their stupidity makes them a universal flavour.
• Clown (Robin), adds lightness to the dish and prevents it becoming too stodgy
• Older Man/Woman (Old Man), a reminder of more traditional methods
• Clergy (Pope), A very weak flavour, easily usurped by other ingredients.
• (Virginal) Maid (Helen of Troy), a highly sought after ingredient mainly due to its purity. Highly desirable

Once you have prepared your main ingredients it is time to move onto the more technical aspects of the recipe and combine them together in just the right fashion.

1. First mix together the following

• eerie setting i.e. a castle
• death and decay to give an after taste of foreshadowing
• a dash of things past to create more layers and depth of flavour

2. Next add the dry ingredients in any order

• a sliver of the supernatural
• heaped tablespoons of horror and terror
• broken shards of social convention to add tang
• contrast and combine life and death through the addition of an egg
• light and dark symbolism to taste

3. Ensure mixed thoroughly, preferably with an electric whisk, in order to blur reality and fantasy
4. Separate a small amount of the mixture and add as much power as you have available
5.Use your imagination, even if some flavour combinations seem a touch 'mental'
6.Finally add a dash of sauce as is conventional

• sin
• macabre
• nostalgia
• ethereal
• melodrama

Note to chef: Don't be afraid to add components from other recipe books. Recommended: 'Romanticism'

A Philisophical Concept

Black and white symbolism.

We all know what it is to 'see the light'. But is it possible to see the dark? Or can you only 'not' see the light. In the conflict between good and evil surely this means that evil is powerless and therefore if good loses the battle, it has only itself to blame.

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light
-Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

The Not Girl

My two hundred word gothic short story...abstract style!

We saw it. A raven. A raven not, Both a raven and a raven not. Dead raven. Ravens are black, Raven was not black. Red Raven. Leave it be. Leave it not. I left it. She left it not. Nobody was watching us. There was nobody to see. Only me. There was never ever anybody to see. Only ever me.

We sat on the grass. Not grass. Both grass and not grass. Dead grass. A daisy. Only one. He loves me, he loves me not. A daisy not.

That was in the past. Passed not. Will not.

Now grown up. Not grown up. Not alone anymore. Alone still. He is our friend. NOT! Our lover? NOT! He shows us love. That is love not.

Captive, see light not. Captive not. But I cannot escape. Not true. What do you mean? You know of murder  not? Murder is sin. To murder him is a sin not. Leave him be. Leave him not. I left him. She left him not.

Evil. Evil not. Evil and evil not.
So I went to the tree. Do not!
Must. Must not!
And then? The final knot.