The Red Room and The Tell-Tale Heart are both gothic stories about men who at the beginning of story are very arrogant and sure of themselves, who find their views and their plans turned upside-down over the course of the story. In the Red Room, the main theme is that of the unknown lurking in the shadows and the things which you can and can’t see. The running theme in the Tell-Tale Heart is definitely madness. But both stories have the same themes of the supernatural, fear of the unknown and these themes are used to keep the tension and suspense running throughout the story. In these stories I think the settings are very familiar.
“Heathcliff is not a villain in the strictest sense” Emily Bronte’s presentation of Heathcliff and his villainy is integral to the narrative of ‘Wuthering Heights’. Heathcliff is a violent, dangerous, threatening and malevolent force throughout of the novel and he is certainly a villain. However, his violent acts are justified, and the strictest sense he is not a villain but rather an anti-hero. In Wuthering Heights Bronte indeed does portray Heathcliff as a villain, typical of the Gothic genre. This is done through a variety of techniques but the most effective is the visual imagery Bronte creates through the vivid descriptions of Heathcliff.
It is clear that this novel contains most of the elements that constitute the genre, for example, an eerie atmosphere full of mystery and suspense, and a character feeling high or overwrought emotions. This concludes the novel into a sub-genre of the Gothic, a ghost story. The Gothic has been active since the eighteenth century; the genre was especially popular within the years of The French Revolution and The Great Terror, which fell between 1789 and the 1790’s. The Gothic can also be traced back to the original Goths, who were believed to have been around in the last days of the Roman Empire. However, there is no substantial proof as the Goths left almost no written records, and were mostly unheard of until the ‘first Gothic revival’ in the late eighteenth century.
The most common found motif in Heart of Darkness is darkness. On page 13, Marlow says, "Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced with the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair".This quote adds to the tone of being dim and bleak. Marlow is describing his surroundings as being dark and gloomy. However, he is not just describing what he is seeing but he is going in depth about what he is hearing as well. The diction used in this quote is very broad and descriptive.
Some elements of the gothic novel as seen in Frankenstein are as follows: 1. Dark Settings-There are lots of dark settings in Frankenstein. When the monster is created, Frankenstein describes how it was a, ' on a dreary night of November'. This pathetic fallacy sets the scene for the birth of the monster. 'black and comfortless sky' Massive pathetic fallacy is used here to make clear that what Frankenstein has done is
In Macbeth, the darkness in the hearts of the characters either disappear or the characters realize what the darkness had done to them. When the images of witches are brought up in any piece of literature, they are usually associated with darkness and/or evil. This is also the case in Macbeth. Shakespeare uses many techniques to enforce this stereotype of witches. He uses pathetic fallacy to convey the dark surroundings as they “Hover through the fog and filthy air” (1 .
‘The villains in Gothic Literature are completely evil and readers have no sympathy for them’ Discuss Villains in Gothic Literature are often more complex characters than a typical completely villainous and evil character you may find in fairy tales, such as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights who is undeniably evil but may also be sympathised with. However, other characters in Gothic Literature could be argued to be completely evil to the point that readers bare no sympathy for them, such as the Marquis in The Bloody Chamber. The distinction between a villain that is presented as completely evil and one presented as an evil villain the reader may be able to sympathise with in gothic literature is created by the author’s presentations of the characters through things such as their actions, speech, through other characters presentations of them and even from their physical descriptions. I would take a character in gothic literature who is deemed ‘completely evil’ as a character that is unremittingly immoral and profoundly wicked, one who shows no sense of kindness, morality, remorse or reform. They would show no sense of the depth of their depravity or guilt and would break every moral code and boundary in humanity.
“Then Goody Cloyse knows her old friend?” observed the traveler confronting her and leaning on his writhing stick.” (5) By making the devil appear in the form of an old man, Hawthorne is suggesting that every person has the capacity for evil. Any interaction with the old man shows the worst part of a person, and the consequences stay with that person. All in all, the devil in the form of the old man shows that every human has the capacity for evil. The last example of symbolism is the old man’s staff. At the beginning of the journey, the devil tells Goodman Brown to take his staff to
Fears and uncertainties have always played a part in everyday life. They are inescapable, all consuming and despite the changing times, universal. The Gothic genre is a style of literature which is intended to invoke a sense of terror while examining the dark side of nature. But the way Gothic literature commands its impact is through confronting society with its deepest uncertainties and perceived social threats. Therefore, the Gothic cannot exist or be valued without the sublime and contextual fears as they are universally understood conditions.
Though this story has moments of dark comedy, it also makes use of numerous elements of gothic literature. First of all this story contains several things that foreshadow evil. It begins by mentioning buried pirate treasure in the area to get the reader thinking about what ill-adventures may be experienced in the search for it. The setting in a dark swampy forest is very gloomy especially when