“The Dead Place”: Cosmopolitan Gothic in Penny Dreadful’s London

This chapter examines Penny Dreadful’s global version of the Gothic by focusing on the way the series uses London as an epicenter for various mythologies and traditions. Monstrous threats from various regions of the British empire converge on London to form a cosmopolitan Gothic in which the global expanse of Empire opens doors for evil forces. This convergence transforms the streets of London into dangerous spaces where monsters find victims and brave heroes learn to navigate the shadows. Despite its global scope, the final battle between good and evil plays out on the streets of London. In the end, the depiction of threatening cosmopolitan Others is considered in relation to contemporary political anxieties around migration and borders.