Fear is more than just a blend of mysterious emotions and feelings. Throughout history however, humanity has considered the sentiment of fear to be concept solely based on horrific and traumatic events. While this may be true to some extent, fear can be represented as the moment where an individual becomes aware of their conscience and suddenly becomes scared of becoming their worst nightmare. This perception filled with anxiety embodies the process by which frightening experiences promptly become familiar and recognizable. This idea is known as the uncanny. The uncanny according to Sigmund Freud is “that class of the frightening which leads us back to what is known of old and long familiar. This notion represents the mark of the return of …show more content…
This theory entails aspects of ego, self-observation and self-criticism which goal is to prove how the mind creates a reality of multiple identities. These multiple selves that can potentially cause a person to see themselves as a different being consumed in fear and ultimately turn them into that evil entity. In the stories titled “Berenice” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Hollow Man” by Norman Patridge, we can observe how the theory of the double is enhanced by the main characters being the sight of the uncanny. The theory of the double is clearly exemplified through the lifestyles of both Berenice and Egaeus. For example, Egaeus describes them by stating “I living within my own heart, and addicted body and soul to the most intense and painful meditation --she roaming carelessly through life with no thought of the shadows in her path, or the silent flight of the raven-winged hours” (Poe, p. 28). This description showcases the uncanniness of Berenices early life. She was a person full of joy without any worries about death and all of a sudden, her life transformed into a living nightmare. Egaeus described her downfall by saying “the spirit of change swept, over her, pervading her mind, her habits, and her character, and, in a manner the most subtle and terrible, disturbing even the identity of her person” (Poe, p. 28). The deterioration of Berenice’s life and body due to her disease portrays Egaeus fear of ending up life his wife. The double in this case is the process of death by which Berenice is going through and the uncanniness can be considered the remembrance of a joyful life and how death can slowly suck the joy out of
Fear resides within all of our souls and our minds in different forms wether it be mind, body, or spirit. Fear can be brought upon by actions, words or ever our mere imagination. Of course as one being younger your imagination can bring along fear that is non existent but, to one it may seem so vivid and tangible. In this Novel by William Golding we come to grasps with many different forms of fear being from the beast, the loss of humanity, and the fear of realization.
The concept of the uncanny can be a difficult one to comprehend; this is why Freud begins his essay with an analysis of the different definitions of the uncanny in various languages. Ultimately Freud rests that the German terms “heimlich” and “unheimlich” best match the definition of the uncanny because it is translated as familiar and unfamiliar. The uncanny can be defined as something that creates a feeling of familiarity but also unfamiliarity, and this unfamiliarity is what is fearful to the individual. Freud’s essay “The Uncanny” can be related to the field of literary criticism because he explains how the feeling of the uncanny relates to the author’s attempt to convey a certain response from their audience. This type of analysis bridges Freud’s work and Larsen’s novel in order to re-examine and debate certain moments in Passing that after a second look can be defined as uncanny. Passing is a short novel that centers on two mixed women who reunite in their adult lives and describe how they are trying to “pass” as white to society. Clare’s motive for passing is so that she can live a luxurious life with her white husband who is extremely racist. Whereas Irene is trying to pass when she goes out in society, her husband Brian is fully aware and is a black doctor. Irene and Clare’s childhoods and pasts are vague which allows there to be room for psychoanalysis, particularly with the character Irene and her feelings towards Clare. Through psychoanalytical criticism of the uncanny moments that occur in Larsen’s novel Passing build tension between Irene and Clare and it is argued that Irene pushed Clare from the window that caused her death in order for Irene to keep her secure life with her husband.
Have you ever had something ever get to you or make you you scared? That is called fear and tons an tons of people have different fears. Fear is an emotion that makes you feel afraid or something is frighten. Some fears many include spiders, clowns and even death. ‘’Fear Prompts Teens To Act Impulsively’’ by Laura Sanders, ‘’Stress for Success’’ by Alison Pearce, and ‘’And Uncomfortable Bed’’ By Guy Maupassant all explain the idea of fear.
Have you ever experienced that feeling when your heart beat goes into hyper drive, your palms start to perspire, and your muscles tense up? Fear is an emotion that everyone has succumbed to at least once in their lifetime. Our fears are like our shadows, for they follow us around to wherever we may go. They are lingering in the back of our minds from the moment we wake up in the morning until our heads hit the pillow at night. Fears are so powerful, however, that they can even crawl into our dreams and manifest into other beings. We, as humans, like to put names or concepts to either faces or objects; we like to possess the ability to visualize what something or someone looks like. As a result, our fears are personified into monsters. Prolific essayist, Chuck Klosterman, points out how “Frankenstein’s monster illustrated our trepidation about untethered science” and “Godzilla was spawned from the fear of the atomic age.” In Klosterman’s article, “My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead,” he tackles the
One of the most complex emotions in existence, fear is the primary emotion that triggers any kind of change, as it is capable of linking with any existing emotion to create entirely different lives upon lives. For any change that happens, fear is always present to turn the tide whichever way it pleases.
In Shirley Jackson's novel "The Haunting of Hill House", there are numerous traces of the representation of the uncanny which was suggested by Sigmund Freud. In the story, the Hill House itself is an uncanny figure to the central protagonist, Eleanor, as it features as her mother which has an ambivalent nature as the meaning of the German word of `uncanny' itself. Moreover, the house also acts as a mirror reflecting her own image so that she can see herself by looking at the house, thus the house is actually an allegory of Eleanor's psychological condition and she is literally consumed by it in the end as the boundary between her and the house collapses. Besides, another protagonist, Theodora, is a double of Eleanor as she figures her opposite side which is her denied self and self-destructiveness while she also expresses the repressed feelings of Eleanor. These examples match with the concept of the uncanny which stresses on the uncanny effect of the `Doubling' and `Infantile complexes' . (Alison 32)
As Poe uses double characters as a literary device, interwoven with the use of female Gothic, in order to create an intricate and perplexing plot he also sets the foundations for an astonishing paradoxical situation. Most often, the engagement of a double figure plays a constructive role in respect to the plot thus expanding and embellishing the plot (not necessarily to the better), and a destructive role in respect to the revelation whose unhappy outcome contributes to the Gothic genre.
Fear motivates many people to act upon matters, right or wrong. This emotion has been important in many events in both works of literature, and in the real world. It has forced military geniuses into retreat, and influenced them to plan another method of attack. Fear can be both a positive and a negative acting force in one’s life, a quality that can motivate one to success as well as to downfall.
In this essay I intend to discuss the the significance and development of the theme of the double in two stories written by one of the most well know American writers, Edgar Allan Poe. The two short stories I will be discussing are “William Wilson” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Throughout many of Poes’ stories we see a recurring theme in the form of the double, this theme is best shown in the stories “William Wilson” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”.
It is difficult to have an effective approach to what uncanny actually means. Even in Freud's essay "The Uncanny" from Art and Literature, the reader can discover different views and opinions about the meaning of this term. Besides the feelings of fear and disorientation which are produced by something that is currently happening, Freud emphases the idea that men are able to detect the sober truth about the facts; that is to say that the uncanny is not something intellectually uncertain as Jentsch states, "[. . .] The better orientated in an environment readers are, the less readily they get the impression of something uncanny in regard to objects and events in it" (341). Freud does not state that men are able to explain everything strange that can occur; it is that remaining part that falls into discussion whether the matter of facts are mere coincidence or not. It is this part of human life that results frightening, because sometimes, there are so many explanations for one event that doubts are difficult to be clarified.
The mirroring, or doubling, of Ligeia and Rowena in Edgar AIlan Poe's "Ligeia" is more than a technique used to give symmetry and balance to a horror story about the dying who refuse to stay dead. The two women also become emblems of the "real" world and the "dream" world, serving as emissaries and guides to the narrator and reader who mirror both worlds and must choose one. Thus, Ligeia is the dark dream-world personified, a gate to the opium-laden existence the narrator craves, just as Rowena is the fair epitome of the bland, light-infused world of reality, an anchor to the mundane world the narrator literally goes insane to avoid. In order to illustrate the ethereal gating quality of Ligeia and the deadly anchoring quality of Rowena, I will first establish them firmly within their respective realms of fiction and fact. In order to illustrate the "double doubling" of the narrator, I will explore how Ligeia and Rowena interact with him, pushing him to extremes of dreaming and reality, and the deadly choice he must make.
In the case of Poe’s narrator, he showed symptom of paranoia He believed that his old room mate’s eye was evil.” One of his eyes resemble...
Fear, what is it? If you google it it says that it means:” an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.” We’ve all gone through fear one way or another, because it’s human nature; a survival instinct. But in modern day life, we have certain comfortability set into place so that these fears don’t come out of hand and become all you think about.
A Wrinkle in Time: Two Critical Approaches In his essay entitled, “The Uncanny,” Freud begins his definition with an explanation of the German word heimlich, which most often means ‘homely’ or familiar’ but has another, less common meaning of ‘hidden’ or deceitful’ (595). Freud connects this word with its two not quite opposite meanings with the notion of the uncanny, loosely defining it as something which is appears familiar but is understood to be hiding something (596). In A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, the planet of Camazotz, where the evil IT rules, is characterized by a pervading sense of the uncanny from the very beginning.
At first glance, Edgar Allan Poe's literary works solely anchor the supernatural in the real world to shock and entertain. After all, isn't that what horror is meant to do? Obviously, there are no deeper meanings hidden among all the unease and spookiness. People are just supposed to feel scared, right? However, through the philosophy of horror framework that Eugene Thacker develops in Tentacles Longer Than Night, I argue that Edgar Allan Poe forces his readers to walk the line between the uncanny and the marvelous in order to embody the consuming power of emotions in "The Tell-Tale Heart."