Doc Martens by Candlelight: The Gothic and Punk Rock

Contributor Zara Matthews urges readers to put their Doc Martens on as they thumb through their Gothic classics, to stand with the punkish Feminist rebellion that exists in their subtext.

At different points in time, every society succumbs to its own form of chaos. From that chaos stems oppressive circumstances that weigh heavily on individuals, with women often bearing the brunt of these constraints. From there, we see rebellion. 

I like to think of Gothic works as the punks of literature. In fact, Gothic works may have been the earliest, if not the very first, semblances of a counter-cultural movement in England. There are numerous similarities between the punk movement and the gothic genre, notably, both offered women a space to finally express their anger and animosity, and rebel against the social standards that confined them. 

Gothic literature’s emergence with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, challenged everything the dominant neoclassical scientific rationalist ideology stood for. Their coveted facts and logic doctrine was quickly squashed by a super-sized plumed helmet falling from the sky (this actually happened in the book). The Gothic genre offered a romanticist perspective and actively allowed women readers an emotional release from the stifling expectations within a stoic Victorian England through the use of histrionic characters and an escalating sense of terror. Through this, Gothic literature could successfully make relevant social commentary regarding Victorian senses of morality, double standards regarding gender expectations and emphasis on rationality. This challenge toward the dominant ideology is what the punk movement mirrors nearly two centuries later.

Similarly, punk emerged as a response to the economic turmoil and political disillusionment that gripped 1970s Britain. It gave voice to the anger and nihilism of a generation living through high inflation, unemployment and a loss of faith in the Thatcher government’s ability to improve conditions. For women, it offered an energetic break from stifling expectations of motherhood and homemaking that lingered from the 1950s, and pushed back at the rampant sexism that reigned under a conservative government. While the Gothic genre presents its critique in a carefully articulated fashion, punk was aggressive, crude and angry in its anti-establishment ideology and style. 

In Victorian England, growing literacy rates among women led to a widespread consumption of Gothic literature, which then became incredibly popular with women, as its themes resonated in a way that grew increasingly relevant to them. Ancient settings, decay, madness, curses, supernatural, entrapment and isolation are to name but a few of the major tropes the genre employs. These tropes also very often mirrored domestic confinement and social suppression faced by women during this era. Those Gothic conventions are underscored by a concept known as the Sublime. Stemming from Romanticism in direct opposition to Neoclassicism, the sublime relates to a sense of awe to evoke an intense emotional response among individuals. However, through Gothic literature, this sense of awe is distorted into terror to achieve the genre’s ultimate purpose—disruption to and distraction from the pressure of Victorian society’s suffocating expectations and values. 

Edgar Allan Poe’s work, The Fall of the House of Usher especially explores how a woman can subvert and destroy typical patriarchal notions. Madeline Usher lacks power in her own home and is consistently reduced to a gothic monstrosity by her own brother-slash-husband (ick!), even after he buried her alive—a very literal representation of domestic entrapment that also figuratively indicates her suppression. The sense of terror built by the narrator and Roderick Usher’s descriptions of her culminates in Madeline’s revenge. Poe engages with the supernatural expectations of the genre, bringing Madeline back from the dead to reclaim her agency through revenge against her brother, and brings the whole house down upon them both. While the male characters unfortunately villainise Madeline, female readers resonated with her story and experienced a form of catharsis at the justice served. 

Emily Brontë and Mary Shelley are only two out of the countless number of amazing feminist Gothic writers that emerged at this time. Brontë’s Wuthering Heights examines how patriarchal values impose harm upon the lives of women through her strong-willed, archetype-defying protagonist, Catherine. While her devastating breakdown and death at the hands of patriarchal values are a desolate reminder to Victorian readers of the reality of life, her daughter, Cathy’s, brighter future with Hareton represents a hope for a future where women can hold more agency. 

Shelley also crafts an incredible feminist work through Frankenstein by critiquing the patriarchal values that Victor demonstrates. His unchecked refusal to engage in “feminine” traits such as empathy and taking responsibility for his creation or child, in favour of unchecked hubris, inevitably leads to the destruction of his loved ones. And yet, Guillermo del Toro decides to use a Lord Byron quote at the end of his Frankenstein adaptation... Do your homework, kids.

I’d also like to quickly mention Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart once more. Poe leaves many elements of his narrator ambiguous, including their gender. Until recently, the narrator was assumed male, but this topic is now hotly debated by academics. Some posit the narrator is a woman, subjected to years of mistreatment under a patriarchal society, which Poe intended to illustrate through representing her spiral into madness. 

Regarding punk, there are a lot of interpretations out there regarding what the “‘real” punk is. The spirit of punk ultimately advocates for a value of authenticity through an anti-authoritarian lens. The aggression and outlandish nature of the punk movement serve as both a means of bringing to attention the injustices within society and an expression of their anger. Punks adopted a deliberately unpolished, deconstructed fashion style out of financial necessity and opposition to conformity with outrageous liberty spikes and thrifted clothes—often decorated with metal studs, patches or badges—to flaunt a disdain for conformist societal values. 

Figures such as fashion icon Vivienne Westwood played a major role in the establishment of the punk aesthetic with her boutique on King’s Road crudely named “SEX” in typical anti-conformity fashion. Westwood designed outrageous and unconventional clothing using leather, PVC and studs to resonate with the punk ethos of non-conformity, allowing women during this time to reject feminine passivity and reclaim their sexuality. Makeup also evolved to become heavy and dramatic, with many women donning smudged black eyeliner and a bold lip. Ear and nose piercings became a new form of self-expression by subverting typical jewellery choices in favour of many cartilage piercings, which were often adorned with safety pins to create an industrial look, stemming from a working-class demographic.

The Gothic had the sublime, and the punks had music. Undeniably, punk rock music was integral to the movement, serving as a confrontational call to arms. Female-fronted punk bands such as X-Ray Spex or the Slits directly criticised the establishment and gave a voice to generations of female rage that previous singers hadn’t quite been able to capture. Politically charged and nihilistic lyrics were often shouted over loud, fast and often discordant instruments. X-Ray Spex’s ‘I Am a Poseur’ proudly mocks conformity and ironically embraces the term poseur as a badge of honour that further separates them from the mainstream masses. Its shouted and simply written vocals encapsulate the eagerness to bite back against those who attempt to stifle individuality. 

Throughout history, women have always seemed to draw the short straw, and the Gothic genre and punk movement provided the perfect spaces for disenfranchised women to just be. Today, both movements remain incredibly engaging to all audiences, and I couldn’t recommend picking up one of Shelley’s novels or giving somebody like Siouxsie and the Banshees a listen. With the world the way it is now, we could all use a break from the norm. So, light a candle and chuck on your Doc Martens—the world awaits!

by Zara Matthews

References:

Bjornholm, J. (n.d.). Punk music: Definition, history & bands - video & lesson transcript. Study.com. https://study.com/academy/lesson/punk-music-definition-history-bands.html

Gray, S. (2019). Gothic Literature in the Eighteenth Century. Pressbooks.pub, 1(1). https://pressbooks.pub/guidetogothic/chapter/chapter-1/

Norwich Radical. (2025, January 31). The Radical Potential of Gothic Fiction in UK Class Struggles. The Norwich Radical. https://thenorwichradical.com/2025/01/31/radical-potential-gothic-fiction-uk-class-struggles-marxism/

Rajan, G. (2014, May 20). A feminist rereading of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”  Https://Www.coursehero.com/File/P2i7pr4/Rajan-Gita-A-Feminist-Rereading-Of-Poes-The-Tell-Tale-Heart-Papers-On-Language/.

Student Anthology. (2023, October 5). Social Transgression and the Gothic Genre. Https://Writ313513studentanthology.wordpress.com/2023/10/05/Social-Transgression-And-The-Gothic-Genre-2/.

Walpole, H., Inchbald, E., Lia, J., & Lim Pun-Chuen, C. (2005). Social disruption in the gothic novels of Horace Walpole, Elizabeth Inchbald, and Jane Austen. https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2175&context=etd