The oval portrait by edgar Allan Poe has a few elements of gothic literature. The three element I chose were, setting in a castle which is the action takes place in and around an old castle, sometimes seemingly abandoned, sometimes occupied, next an atmosphere of mystery and suspense, which means Gloomy, decaying setting (haunted houses or castles with secret passages, trapdoors, and other mysterious architecture), and lastly the vocabulary of the gothic, meaning the constant use of the appropriate vocabulary set creates and sustains the atmosphere of the gothic. The first element chosen was setting in a castle. “The Chateau into which my valet had ventured to make forcible entrance…”(Poe 1), a chateau is a french country house or castle,
meaning the setting of the story takes place in a castle which looked abandoned. The castle had apartment like rooms, they were furnished and the decor was rich but tattered and antique. Another element of gothic literature shown in the story is an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. “Its walls were hung with tapestry and bedecked with manifold and armorial trophies, together with an unusually great number of very spirited modern paintings in frames of rich golden arabesque” (Poe 1). The atmosphere around the castle is like one would imagine a horror movie, with the old paintings on the walls and all of the antique things. It was night time already and entering the room of the castle the fringes of the curtains were black velvet to match the bed itself. The last element of gothic literature chosen from the story is the vocabulary of the gothic. A great example of the vocabulary used in the story would be “...the hours flew by and the deep midnight came” (Poe 1) Poe uses words like deep midnight giving that impression of being scary and as if something is going to happen during the night. Also “The rays of the numerous candles (for there were many) now fell within a niche of the room which had hitherto been thrown into deep shade by one of the bed-post” (Poe 1). Normally in a horror movie specially in a castle candle are lit all over and usually are there to be blown out by something or someone leaving them in the dark preparing for something to happen or pop up. Many more elements are shown throughout the story but those three stood out the most, giving out the gothic theme of any horror story.
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.
Throughout the short story, Hop-Frog, Edgar Allan Poe uses many gothic elements to create an eerie and dark story. Poe uses gothic romanticism when he describes the setting, when he illustrates the corpses hanging from the chandelier chain and when he discusses the maddening sounds Hop-Frog makes. Poe has the eight orang-outangs wait “patiently until midnight” (163) to play their prank. How he does this is he has Hop-Frog suggest it to the king and his cabinet council. He does this to convey the mood for the story. Because the story is placed at midnight it eliminates mystery and intriguing mood. Hop-Frog also incorporates gothic imagery when he describes the corpses hanging from a chandelier chain. Poe writes “the eight corpses swung in their
Gothic elements are used to show suspense, symbolism, and drama, while also setting dark and twisted tones about the story and its characters. In the passage "The Fall of the House of Usher" the author uses Gothic elements to entice the reader with details of ominous character persona and setting.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. His first book was published in 1827. In 1829 Al Aaraaf Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, Poe's second book was published. Poe became the editor of The Southern Literary Messenger in 1834 after his lawyer persuaded them to publish some of his stories and make him an editor. During this time his mark on American Literature began. Three of Poe's well-known stories are “The Cask of Amontillado”, which was published in 1846, “The Tell-Tale Heart, which was published in 1843, and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, which was published in 1842. In these three stories like most of Poe's stories they deal with the deep, dark, psychological side of the human brain. In Poe's short stories “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, Poe use three common motifs; death, fear or terror, and madness.
In the writings of great authors it is easy to pick out the literary elements used by them. Edgar Allan Poe is one of these authors. He makes use of the same literary elements in many of his stories. Three of the most used literary elements are irony, antagonists and foreshadowing.
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.
The term 'gothic' has many different forms. The most important and original form is architecture during the medieval period. It starts out with the great cathedral, Saint-Denis, of Paris. Then the Westminster Abbey of London was built. These are characterized by their pointed arches and flying buttresses. Gothicism also came in the form of art. Tres Riches Heures du duc de Berry, by the Limburg brothers, showed elegance through statements in the best known way of gothic art. This popular style of art is called manuscript illuminations. Manuscript illuminations are text followed by decoration, usually gold. During the mid-18th century, literature took a new step having the first gothic novel, "The Castle of Otranto," first published in 1764. This novel was combined with a horror and mystery genre (Martindale).
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.
A virtuoso of suspense and horror, Edgar Allan Poe is known for his Gothic writing style. His style is created through his use of punctuation, sentence structure, word choice, tone, and figurative language. Punctuation-wise; dashes, exclamation marks, semicolons, and commas are a favorite of Poe. His sentences vary greatly; their structures are influenced by punctuation. Much of his word choice set the tone of his works. Figurative language colors his writings with description. Such is observed in the similarities between two of his most well-known short stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”
Certainly trough “The Pit and the Pendulum” Edgar Allan Poe uses many traditional gothic elements. Those basic elements helped him to develop this gothic work as it is “The Pit and the Pendulum”.
the elements of a gothic novel as it is not set in a remote place or a
Any short story with a gloomy, evil feeling uses Gothic elements throughout the piece. Gothic elements create a thrilling mystery for the reader to take part in. Examples include: flickering lights, strange noises, isolated setting, reliance on the supernatural, and dark villains. The genre of Gothic is associated with the mystery of the unknown and dark side of things. Gothic elements can also be mystery, darkness, haunted houses, death, and a powerful love/romance. The three short stories: “A Rose for Emily,” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” use Gothic elements.
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
Edgar Allan Poe has wrote many different poems and short stories, and because of these works of literature, and the qualities each of them have, defines him as a Gothic author. He has demonstrated all of the qualities to be a gothic writer in a numerous amount of stories. For example, “The Black Cat” which showed horror in many ways, “The Black Cat” also showed a character can start off normal then very quickly become dark and full of hate,“The Tell Tale Heart” showed how a setting that started normal than changed into a dark place, and lastly in “Annabel Lee” he showed the romance aspect of a gothic story even if it lead to sorrow and death.
There is one known very influential writing style called Gothic Literature. It is not only considered to involve the horror or gothic element but is combined with romance, superstition, women in distress, omens, portents, vision and supernatural events to name a few (Beesly). The history and beginning of this era is not well known. From a few writers came this writing style that has impacted the world. A famous artists known for this type of writing is a man named Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote many short stories and poems that include horror, gothic, and romance just mentioned.