In the early days of the gothic film, when such creatures as Cesare the somnambulist went on a murdering rampage, this character was the true "good guy" figure. They were the times when societal beliefs were of a morally 'good' society versus the 'bad' individuals. Violence was unnecessary and unwanted, there was no way the 'bad guy' could or would win; it was the time of "good conquers all".

It was after the First World War that Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) had Francis, a University student, search for the answer behind the mysterious murders in town. Even though the viewer does not know very much about him, the story follows this hero through the town's ordeal. With nothing but good intentions, Francis' desire to find the murderer results in his being in the wrong place at the wrong time. While his "lady love" is almost attacked by the murdering sleepwalker, Francis waits outside the evil Dr. Caligari's home for any sign of mischievousness. This hero solves the mystery of the 'unknown' in the end, not only with his suspicion of Caligari's part in all of it, but with his own mystery revealed as he tells the story while he is a patient in a mental institution.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, in its form as a true gothic film, a film about the unknown that unleashes feelings of dread, is, in part, a classic example of this genre because of the characterizations of its hero. The classic gothic hero reflects the characterizations of society at the time of the film's production, yet it is this mirroring of society that produces the development or de-establishment of this character from the gothic hero to the multi-leveled hero entangled within the gothic.

Jelena Momirov