e-Publications@Marquette

As described by Frederick S. Frank, the architecture of the Gothic is in many ways a living organism. One example of living architecture is its ability to hold the memory of previous generations and inhabitants. In the chapbook “Knight of the Broom Flower,” for example, Elvira lives in a former abbey, which is described as being polluted by the crimes of the evil abbot. As a result of the memory of wickedness infesting the place, her father is murdered, and bandits hold her prisoner for decades. She can only be saved when the hero of the story takes her far away from that place.
Courtesy of Wendy Fall, Marquette University

See also: workings of the mind

Source:
Frank, Frederick S. The First Gothics : A Critical Guide to the English Gothic Novel . New York : Garland Pub., 1987. Print.