Gothic elements in Poe's Short Stories
Paper
Name : The
American Literature
Assignment
Topic :
Gothic
elements in Poe's Short Stories
Name:
Solanki
Pintu V
Sem
: 3
Roll
No :
29
Enrollment
No:
PG15101037
Submitted
to :
M.K.
BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY
Department
Of English
Gothic
elements in Poe's Short Stories
GOTHIC
ELEMENTS IN EDGER ALLAN POE'S SHORT STORIES
Edgar
Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809.Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809–49,
American poet, short-story writer, and critic, b. Boston. He is
acknowledged today as one of the most brilliant and original writers
in American literature.
In
1836 Poe married Virginia Clam, then only 13, and in 1837 they went
to New York City, where he published The Narrative of Arthur Gordon
Pym (1838), his only novel. From 1838 to 1844, Poe lived in
Philadelphia, where he edited Burton's Gentleman's Magazine (1839–40)
and Graham's Magazine (1841–42).
His
famous works are Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827)Al Aaraaf,Tamerlane,
and Minor Poems (1829)Lenore (1843)
The Raven and Other Poems
(1845) these his famous Poetry Collections and He was most famous for
his fiction works like The Fall of the House of Usher (1839),Tales of
the Grotesque and Arabesque (1939),Murders in the Rue, Morgue
(1841),The Masque of the Red Death (1842),The Black Cat (1843),The
Tell-Tale Heart (1843)The Purloined Letter (1845),The Cask of
Amontillado (1846)
GOTHIC
ELEMENTS IN EDGER ALLAN POE'S SHORT STORIES
The
gothic novel was invented almost single-handedly by Horace Walpole,
whose The Castle of Otranto(1764) contains essentially all the
elements that constitute the genre. Walpole's novel was imitated not
only in the eighteenth century and not only in the novel form, but it
has influenced writing, poetry, and even film making up to the
present day. It introduced the term "gothic romance" to the
literary world. Due to its inherently supernatural, surreal and
sublime elements, it has maintained a dark and mysterious appeal.
Gothic
literature is devoted primarily to stories of horror, the fantastic,
and the “darker” supernatural forces. These forces often
represent the “dark side” of human nature—irrational or
destructive desires.
Generally
speaking, gothic literature delves into the macabre nature of
humanity in its quest to satisfy mankind's intrinsic desire to plumb
the depths of terror.
The
key features of gothic texts are:
1)the
appearance of the supernatural,
2)the
psychology of horror and/or terror,
3)the
poetics of the sublime,
4)
a sense of mysteryland dread
5)
the appealing hero/villain,
6)
the distressed heroine, and
7)
strong moral closure (usually at least)
GOTHIC
ELEMENTS IN ADGER ALLAN POE'S SHORT STORIES
Edgar
Allan Poe is one of the famous Gothic poet, critic and writers. Poe’s
writing is always characterized by the elements of Gothic such as
brooding atmosphere, thrilling exploration of characters in various
states of extremity, sinister, violence and insanity. In this thesis,
I will describe the three main characteristics of Gothic. They are
mystery, horror and madness of the character.
Horror
is the usual but not necessarily the main ingredient of Gothic
fiction. Horror story focuses on creating a feeling of fear. It takes
big part in forming the body of folk literature. They can have
supernatural elements and features such as ghosts, witches or
vampires or they can address more realistic psychological fears.
Edgar
Allan Poe raised the horror story to a level far above mere
entertainment through their skilful intermingling of reason and
madness, eerie atmosphere and everyday reality.
His
tales are short, intense, and sensational and have the power to
inspire horror and terror. He depicts extremes of fear, suffering and
insanity and, through the operations of evil, gives us glimpses of
hell. Among his most notable horror stories are The Fall of the House
of Usher (1839), The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), A Descent into
the Maelstrom(1841), The Masque of the Red Death (1842), The Pit and
the Pendulum, The Black Cat and The Tell-tale Heart(all 1843), The
Case of M. Valdemar (1845) and The Cask of Amontillado (1846).
Madness
of character is one of the Gothic elements, which is almost always
appears in Gothic fiction. It is a change of the character’s
attitude, which is influenced by evil thought, crime, superstitious
belief, and obsession and so on. According to a website about
elements of the Gothic Novel, usually the characters that get mad are
male characters while the women are in distress. As an appeal to the
pathos and sympathy of the reader, the female characters often face
events that leave them fainting, terrified, screaming, suffering and
destroyed by the madness that consumes the male character. It is also
a characteristic of Gothic element.
The
mystery story is an age-old popular genre and is related to several
other forms. Elements of mystery may be present in narratives of
horror or terror, pseudoscientific fantasies, crime stories, accounts
of diplomatic intrigue, affair of codes and ciphers and secret
societies, or any situation involving an enigma. Edgar Allan Poe’s
short story The Gold Bugs a classic example of one perennially
popular type of mystery.
The
Weather is used in a number of ways and forms, some of these being:
Mist-This
convention in Gothic Literature is often used to obscure objects by
reducing visibility or to prelude the insertion of a terrifying
person or thing;
Storms-These
frequently accompany important events. Flashes of lightning accompany
revelation; thunder and downpours prefigure the appearance of a
character or the beginning of a significant event e.g thunder
precedes the entrance of the witches in ‘Macbeth‛;
Sunlight-represents
goodness and pleasure; it also has the power to bestow these upon
characters.
The
action takes place in and around an old castle, sometimes seemingly
abandoned, sometimes occupied. The castle often contains secret
passages, trap doors, secret rooms,trick panels with hidden levers,
dark or hidden staircases, and possibly ruined sections.
Poe
is also known for creating compelling atmosphere
in all of his stories. As a literary element, atmosphere is the
combination of a specific setting and tone. Poe often creates an
eerie or spooky atmosphere through setting stories in remote places
(and old houses or cabins) and adding to the already spooky place bad
weather and illness. Combined, these elements are common to many of
his stories and make the stories uniformly dark and mysterious. "The
Fall of the House of Usher" and "the black cat" are
two easy examples of atmosphere as a predominant literary element.
Supernatural
or otherwise inexplicable events
Dramatic,
amazing events occur, such as ghosts or giants walking, or inanimate
objects (such as a suit of armor or painting) coming to life. In some
works, the events are ultimately given a natural explanation, while
in others the events are truly supernatural. As you might imagine,
Hollywood uses special effects to a large degree to provide fire,
earthquakes, moving statues, and so forth, often bluring the line
between human-produced, natural, and supernatural events.
The
black cat that lives with the main character appears supernatural.
The idea is introduced with his wife's concern about the cat's color
and witchcraft.
...my
wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made
frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all
black cats as witches in disguise.
High,
even overwrought emotion
The
narration may be highly sentimental, and the characters are often
overcome by anger, sorrow, surprise, and especially, terror.
Characters suffer from raw nerves and a feeling of impending doom.
Crying and emotional speeches are frequent. Breathlessness and panic
are common. In the filmed gothic, screaming is common.
http://poestories.com/biography.php
http://www.virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm
https://www.quora.com/What-made-Edgar-Allan-Poe-such-a-great-gothic-poet
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=Pg0dBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=Horror+is+the+usual+but+not+necessarily&source=bl&ots=YRqHiiJHoS&sig=R5SIeliaA9ElX_xiLBSJ0g9qBRY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj1pKmFybnQAhUMto8KHWx8ASUQ6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=Horror%20is%20the%20usual%20but%20not%20necessarily&f=false
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