The Gothic sub-genre is normally deemed to be the opposite of the realist; it's a nightmarish vision of reality. Gothic conventions include an imposing castle, creaking doors and subterranean passages, monstrous beings who wish to kidnap the maiden and lock her away. The Gothic fiction novel is merely an extension of the Romantic era story where the knight always rescues the fair maiden from the clutches of evil.
In the Gothic novel, however, the 'knight' may just be a little slow and the heroine may have to wait a while for her knight to appear, or she may decide to roll up her shirt sleeves, take charge and go to the hero's rescue. See for instance the character, Jonathan Harker in Dracula.
What is nightmarish in the Gothic is reflected in the subconscious or the unconscious mind, and usually resonates with us deeply. We all want to avoid facing our fears, our inner demons, the uncanny and unexplained because really all we want is familiarity around us - the idiom 'better the devil you know' springs to mind. In any case, the happy ever after may or may not happen. Sometimes, the knight may turn out to be a retard, whereupon, the maiden, sensing her knight's abandonment sets out to find a different knight in another story altogether.
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