Gothic Elements In Gothic Literature

1358 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An analytical note on gothic fiction

In the late 18th century/early 19th century, gothic literature was introduced to England and quickly migrated to the United States. It falls under the classification of romantic literature, where hope in the feelings, senses, and imagination were enhanced. Gothic literature is more dark and tragic than other romantic works of the period and influenced many stories of the time including, but not limited to, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Claire Bampton and Mary Shelley, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Gothic literature is a genre that combines literature, horror, death and romanticism. The detailed descriptions put into introducing the characters and the environment around them can help the reader relate to any story. Gothic literature enhances the characters and deepens the story in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe was a “master of the literary genre known as the Gothic story.” (Pang, Wang, Hu) He is best known for his dark, gruesome depictions of emotionally haunted characters and their “horror towards super nature, nothingness, death, evil and disintegration of personality.” A few of Poe’s most famous stories are “The Cask …show more content…

Poe uses many more descriptive details to describe the setting, environment, and atmosphere of this story. “I know not how I was-but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit”. (Poe 654) Describing the setting as a dark and gloomy place helps bring the story alive because it infers the atmosphere was once dynamic and is now in the final stages of death, much like the two main

Show More
Related

  • Edgar Allan Poe Figurative Language Essay

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe is known for his dark yet comedic approach toward the his theme of his stories. Likewise, Poe’s themes have gathered many fans due to his impression of reasoning in his stories. The author uses thinking and reasoning to portray the theme. Poe’s unique diction comprehends with the theme of the story. Poe has a brilliant way of taking gothic tales of mystery, and terror, and mixing them with variations of a romantic tale by shifting emphasis from, surface suspense and plot pattern to his symbolic play in language and various meanings of words.

    Read More

  • Comparing Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher and Taylor’s Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gothic texts are typically characterized by a horrifying and haunting mood, in a world of isolation and despair. Most stories also include some type of supernatural events and/or superstitious aspects. Specifically, vampires, villains, heroes and heroines, and mysterious architecture are standard in a gothic text. Depending upon the author, a gothic text can also take on violent and grotesque attributes. As an overall outlook, “gothic literature is an outlet for the ancient fears of humanity in an age of reason” (Sacred-Texts). Following closely to this type of literature, Edgar Allan Poe uses a gloomy setting, isolation, and supernatural occurrences throughout “The Fall of the House of Usher”.

    Read More

  • What Are The Elements Of Southern Gothic Literature

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    Elements of Southern Gothic Literature Literature comes in all types of styles and one type is Southern Gothic. But what makes a story develop into this type of Southern Gothic style? There are many characteristics that are apparent in literature, so what conditions are distinct that would give them the term Southern Gothic literature? What kind of elements do we call for when trying to find this type of literature? Southern Gothic is a literature that has a style all its own.

    Read More

  • A Guide To Gothic Essay

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the years, Gothic literature has developed to be a mirror representation of what the beliefs and thoughts of the time were. The Gothic has a tendency to express beliefs towards the socioeconomic, political and religious situations and grievances of the time. Many texts express this, some including Edgar Allen Poe’s The House of Usher and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, to then allow for the general public – at least those who were literate – to, subconsciously, understand the environment around them without being too direct. This gave the writers of the time a new channel, through this ge...

    Read More

  • Gothic Elements

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    To set the tone in the story the author had to describe the surroundings of the characters. For example the author states, "with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit." when giving a detailed response of how he feels about the house. This helps show that the author himself feels depressed when in sight of the building and gives the reader a thought of how the house looks. Other textual evidence in the passage also shows a feeling of suspense like the quote, "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart - an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. " which is how the author feels when he thinks about the house. The author cannot bear to imagine the house because he has a dark and negative imagination with different fears he thinks can come to life because of how unsettling the house makes him feel. While suspense is a direct indication of a depressed and dark tone, some other Gothic elements can be used indirectly to describe negative values in the story.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices of Gothic Literature

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gothic literature was developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth century of the Gothic era when war and controversy was too common. It received its name after the Gothic architecture that was becoming a popular trend in the construction of buildings. As the buildings of daunting castles and labyrinths began, so did the beginning foundation of Gothic literature. The construction of these buildings will later become an obsession with Gothic authors. For about 300 years before the Renaissance period, the construction of these castles and labyrinths continued, not only in England, but also in Gothic stories (Landau 2014). Many wars and controversies, such as the Industrial Revolution and Revolutionary War, were happening at this time, causing the Gothic literature to thrive (“Gothic Literature” 2011). People were looking for an escape from the real world and the thrill that Gothic literature offered was exactly what they needed. Gothic literature focuses on the horrors and the dark sides to the human brain, such as in Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. Gothic literature today, as well as in the past, has been able to separate itself apart from other types of literature with its unique literary devices used to create fear and terror within the reader.

    Read More

  • The Black Cat And The Landlady: Key Elements Of Gothic Literature

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    Key Elements of Gothic Literature Jasmine Giles People enjoy reading gothic literature due to its heart rate exciting nature. Without having to engage with any real danger, it is common for the reader to feel anxiety and impaitence when reading gothic fiction. In order for the reader to feel these emotions, the author uses certain elements, such as a gloomy setting and old-fashioned dialoge. In the stories “The Black Cat” and “The Tell Tale Heart”, by elgar allen poe, and “The Landlady”, by Roland Dahl, there are many similarites that remanticize the idea of horror and mystery. Some elements, however, bring out the disbolical horror of gothic literature: the setting, characterization, and the motif of suspense.

    Read More

  • The Influence of Gothic Literature on Gothic Music

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gothic encompasses many genres of expression. Gothic artists speak out through the forms of literature, architecture, film, sculptures, paintings, and music. Many times, one genre of Gothic inspires another, creating fusing parallels between the two. In this way, each genre of Gothic rises to a more universal level, coalescing into the much broader understanding of Gothic. Gothic writers, such as Mary Shelley, influence Gothic music, as one sees in stylistic devices including diction, setting, and tone.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe´s Literature

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Fall Of The House Of Usher And House Taken Over

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Word by word, gothic literature is bound to be an immaculate read. Examining this genre for what it is could be essential to understanding it. “Gothic” is relating to the extinct East Germanic language, people of which known as the Goths. “Literature” is defined as a written work, usually with lasting “artistic merit.” Together, gothic literature combines the use of horror, death, and sometimes romance. Edgar Allan Poe, often honored with being called the king of horror and gothic poetry, published “The Fall of House Usher” in September of 1839. This story, along with many other works produced by Poe, is a classic in gothic literature. In paragraph nine in this story, one of our main characters by the name of Roderick Usher,

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Cask Of Amontillado And Tell Tale Heart

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reading Edgar Allen Poe’s works such as “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart” are both written around 1840’s and written in the gothic style. Poe displays his horror short stories, in which the reader can differentiate his signature style. Although many of Poe’s significant works may have a similar theme, the reader can distinguish the themes through the characters in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart.”

    Read More

  • American Gothic Essay

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    One great American Gothic story written by Poe is The Tell Tale Heart. What makes this story Gothic/creepy is how the narrator describes the old man 's eye. Also the fact that the narrator is constantly thinking of killing the old man because of his eyes. Then again he still wants the reader to believe that he is not insane for having these thoughts. And that he has a legitimate reason behind his own crazy reasoning. In the first paragraph of page 41 of the story he says “True! Nervous very very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that i am mad?” then later he goes on to say “I heard many things in hell. How then am I mad?” The narrator is the perfect example of a character from a Gothic novel. He is extremely irrational and believe he has a right or even a duty to kill the old man and to put a stop to his

    Read More

  • Poe's Fall of The House of Usher - The House and its Inhabitants

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poe uses several descriptive words in his portrayal of the house.  The reader’s first impression of the house comes from a direct observation from the narrator.  This unnamed narrator states, “… with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.”  As the narrator continues to describe the house he uses several similarly dismal adjectives.    The gloom experienced by the narrator is not limited to merely the house itself.  The vegetation, which surrounds the area, is described as “a few rank sedges and … a few white trunks of decayed trees.”  He emphasizes these facets of the house and its environs by restating the descriptions reflected in a “black and lurid tarn.”  The narrator points out that the house seems to be in a dilapidated condition.  While he claims that the house appears structurally sound, he takes time to comment upon “the crumbling condition of the individual stones.”  He also emphasizes the long history of the house by stating that its features recall an “excessive antiquity.”

    Read More

  • Essay On Gothic Storytelling

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gothic storytelling is a form of writing that usually includes horror, death, and romance. People write gothic style for the thrill of having a little bit of scariness in their story. Gothic style can be shown through the imagery and themes. The Fall of the House of Usher and Crimson Peak are two stories that show gothic writing though the imagery of the houses and supernatural.

    Read More

  • Gothic Literature and the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gothic Tradition was said to have started in Europe. Gothicism came from the Romanticism in the early 19th century (Book Rags). Two people who are said to have started the gothic writing movement are Ann Radcliffe and Horace Walpole. They started this style with their stories: “The Mysteries of Udolpho” and “The Castle of Otranto” (Book Rags). The gothic movement also came about because it was related to the art and architecture during the Renaissance era. Edgar Allan Poe three main elements romance, horror, and supernatural events are used in his short stories and poems. A few of his most famous short stories are “The Raven”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Tell-tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, “Eleonora”, and “Annabelle Lee” (Book Rags). Some of his writing is dark and gloomy while others have romance and comedy.

    Read More

More about Gothic Elements In Gothic Literature

Open Document