War and the Gothic Eva Čoupková Gothic has a special relationship to military discourse, as militarist elements are present in The Castle of Otranto, Dracula, or Ann Radcliffe's work. In these early texts, war is mainly represented through architecture in the form of castles as fortifications. These structures become the symbols of the old tyrannical order to be destroyed or escaped from, as many characters attempt to do. Late nineteenth century writers, however, concentrated less on Gothic spaces; instead, they employed the Gothic discourse of horror to capture war injuries and psychological effects of violence. The American Civil War was powerfully chronicled by Ambrose Bierce; he used the Gothic to depict the horrors of the combat and evoke the physical and mental damage caused by war. He also demonstrated how tragic experiences can drive a person mad and depicted the effects of madness.