Grotesque Themes Of Gothic Literature

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Recommended: Literary analysis on Edgar Allan Poe

The image of a severed but still-beating heart and a decomposing corpse sends chills down anyone’s spine. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-tale Heart” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily” are both literary works that explore gothic fiction’s themes of horror and the grotesque. Alongside other contemporary Gothic Romantics of his era, Poe explored macabre themes in his writing. Many consider him the “father of the short story” and his works to be the epitome of the gothic genre. Faulkner’s writing often explored motifs of Southern legacy. He also had a taste for psychologically disturbing and grotesque themes, as shown in his short story “A Rose For Emily”. While both “The Tell-tale Heart” and “A Rose For Emily” succeed in delivering riveting and psychologically disturbing tales, Poe’s short story achieves beyond just the thrilling entertainment and directs the reader to connect the story to controversies and events in the world. Successful writing can be defined with the accomplishment of the author’s intentions. Orwell’s “Why I Write” suggests four motives to writing: sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose. [Orwell] Of these four motives, the majority of Gothic authors write for aesthetic enthusiasm: finding sheer pleasure in sharing their thoughts and stories with others. Like many modern authors of horror, Poe and Faulkner appealed to the public’s enjoyment and fascination with terror. They write to chill, unnerve, and excite their audience as well as provide an emotional catharsis for one’s psychological fears. Both short stories accomplish this goal in this aspect; it feed people’s hidden curiosities of forbidden societal concepts such as murder, necrophilia, and insanity. Another aspec... ... middle of paper ... ...peated interjections and only exacerbated the reader’s certainty that he is insane. Towards the end, he begins to confuse his hallucinations with reality. Poe never revealed the truth behind “the heart” but it adds a sense of mystery for the reader to solve himself. Through “The Tell-tale Heart” Poe intends to redefine insanity to his audience. Faulkner drew from his own life experiences. Like Emily, his family was once part of the Southern aristocracy that lost influence after the American Civil War. The short story often mentioned that the people of the town pitied Emily’s fall from the past splendor of Southern aristocracy. A major theme throughout“A Rose For Emily” is the change between the old and new generations. As time passes in the small town of Yoknapatawpha, Emily becomes more isolated and stubborn in her refusal to modernize with the rest of the town.

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