In the mid-19th century, with the development and strengthening of realistic literature the status of the gothic novel had declined. But as popular novels it still had a large number of readers, and affected many realistic writers including Dickens and the Bronte sisters. Wuthering Heights was one of the most prominent representatives in this period. For example, Heathcliff was a villain hero from the gothic tradition. "villain hero is the creation of the gothic genre and the genre tends to use villain hero to seduce others, the theme is both fascinating and evil”（Marie, 1998:111）.

From the 20th century to the present, gothic novels began to show great vitality and novels of high artistic achievement appeared, such as British writer JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. Gothic literature is likened to “a beautiful and touching fairy tale in the ugly world "（Fang Long, 1989:232）.