A Kiss Is Not Just a Kiss
In Gothic tales, a kiss is rarely just a kiss. Is it salvation or damnation, passion or poison, a bridge between the living and the dead? From the misty moors of Wuthering Heights to the shadowy crypts of Dracula, to the war-torn America of Mademoiselle Frankenstein, a touch of lips carries immense weight—and often, dire consequences. In that charged moment, masks slip and characters expose their deepest longings—or darkest impulses.
Classic Gothic Kisses
Catherine and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë)
Their first kiss on the moors is an electric collision of desire and danger. It sets off a lifetime of obsession, binding them in a love so fierce it outlives death itself.
Lucy and the Vampires (Dracula, Bram Stoker)
Lucy Westenra’s transformation hinges on her surrender to Dracula’s kiss—an act that turns her innocence into deadly allure. The kiss becomes a twisted rite of passage between victim and monster.
Jane and Rochester (Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë)
The stolen kiss in the garden crackles with forbidden longing—Rochester a mysterious master, Jane his moral equal. It ignites their passion and cements the novel’s tension between duty and desire.
Laura and Carmilla (Carmilla, J. Sheridan Le Fanu)
Carmilla’s gentle, lingering kisses blur the line between affection and possession, love and control. Their intimacy is electrifying, yet tinged with an otherworldly menace.
Modern Twists on the Gothic Kiss
Noemí and Howard (Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia)
In a rotting mansion, an unwelcome kiss and a poisonous exchange of saliva spin the plot in all directions, driving toward a fate no one expected.
Mabel and the Spirits (The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters)
A fleeting kiss in a dusty corridor hints at deeper yearnings, set against a house that seems to inhale hope and exhale despair.
Mademoiselle Frankenstein: Kisses That Aren’t Quite Kisses
As a child, Océane witnesses a moment of life-saving intimacy when a doctor uses mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to bring a fallen soul back from death. What onlookers call a shocking kiss was actually a pulse-restoring gesture—an act of hope, and human connection. It’s a subtle reminder that in the Gothic world, the line between love and terror is always razor-thin.
Amid storms, scientific marvels, and shattered lives, Océane later repeats this gesture—twice. Once to breathe life into her Creature, once to man or unman him in a horrifying manner. This innocent-seeming act of affection and longing appears familiar. Yet not.
Whether written by a Brontë sister or brought to life in Mademoiselle Frankenstein, the Gothic kiss remains one of literature’s most potent symbols—capable of delivering salvation, sin, or both in a single, trembling moment.
What’s your favorite Gothic kiss? Share the scene that haunted—or thrilled—you.
Enjoy “When Time Goes By” in the movie Casablanca. The final word on kisses.
