It shows that both stories handle the subject of growing madness, however, in Poe’s story, the madness surrounds all characters, whereas in Gilman’s story the narrator is the one who is the victim of the madness. In addition, Poe’s story is utterly a fantastical story and does not improve the inner state of the characters as Gilman does, yet Gilman’s story includes the elements of realism and madness. Main Idea 1: In Poe’s story, the environment affects the sensibilities of the narrator and leads him to go mad. The mysterious appearance of the house and the darkness and gloom of autumn affect the narrator and make him uneasy about the house. -“During the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher’’ (Poe 88).
Nothing to Fear, but Fear Itself Fear can destroy people. Many are driven crazy by fear and are pushed to the brinks of insanity. Those who are put in situations of panic, where even a character’s surroundings are instigating fear, can find themselves in compromising positions. Edgar Allan Poe’s stories “The Black Cat” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” are two prime examples of stories where fear moves the plot along, as it transforms its characters. Poe explores the darkest depths of the human mind and exploits his characters’ fear of themselves, and while these accounts have ready supplies of fear, they convey these apprehensions in different ways.
The word “once” creates an ageing atmosphere, because it implies the house is no longer white, that the house is now grey and dull. This immediately gives the reader an image of this ancient house, whose color “had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-grey yard.” Not only does this description re-enforce the image of the house, but also it brings the image of an overgrown colorless front yard. The words “long ago” once again press the image of an old and tired house. The “remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard.” Here Lee’s use of personification creates a feeling of the fence falling over, and swaying. The word “drunkenly” also brings an image of the old fence falling down, and sagging in tangled weeds into the readers mind.
The personification of ‘the night’s dark glass’ creates an image of shock which has a lasting impact on the reader .This is supposedly transferred from the author, thus implying that their life has been left in pieces by the news the telephone brings. The unconventional image of ‘dark’ glass (glass is generally seen as a light, transparent material) could be the author foreshadowing the gloomy event the poem will continue to describe or otherwise symbolise the author’s his depression. One could imagine, through the personification of the telephone and night, the glass enclosing on the author whilst the telephone bringing him back to reality. This symbolises the author’s emotions once he heard the news and the on going difficulty he has controlling them. The idea of ‘new year’ implies rebirth and regeneration which is juxtaposed by the author’s dread of what he will hear.
Hoang 01 Lisa Hoang 124/01 Mrs.Maccherone Poe, the Father of Mystery Stories, uses many literary devices to create a specific mood to present the story smoothly. Growing up, Poe felt lonely and a sense of loss. Because of growing up with those emotions, Poe’s works are full of horror, mystery, and fear. Throughout the story of Fall House of Usher, a creepy feeling is maintained from the beginning to the end. Poe’s usage of literary devices and choice of words are what use to maintain the creepy feeling.
The Role of women in gothic genre is as victims, always subject to male authority” Compare and contrast the extent to which this interpretation is relevant to your 3 chosen texts The 19th Century was the time of Gothic Literature, where supernatural suspicions and beliefs were dominating the minds of the British public. With this, many novels such as ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley and ‘Northanger Abbey’ by Jane Austen were introduced with the theme of supernatural villains and their helpless subjects. The Victorian era was structured with social classes and rigid gender roles where the men were strong, aggressive and intelligent and the women were supposedly physically weak, emotional and sensitive. This heavily influenced the definable features of Gothic Literature where the female characters were portrayed as ‘victims’ and ‘always subject to male authority’. In this essay I am going to compare and contrast how certain characters are portrayed in the novels Dracula (1897), The Turn of the Screw’(1898) and the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, focusing on physical descriptions, events, linguistic techniques and the significance of symbols whilst also taking into account the historical context of the Victorian period.
His method of presenting the details of a dramatic situation adds a sense of mystery that contributes to the fearful surroundings and helps build towards a climax. Poe’s ability to take even the most supernatural and unnerving details from his stories and make the emotions that they evoke apply to his audience suggests that the fear and terror associated with his stories are universally applicable and gives his writing a sublime flavor. In the beginning of “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the narrator immediately sets a murky tone to the story by describing the scenery as he approaches Roderick Usher’s house. “I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthy sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium—the bitter lapse into common life—the hideous dropping off of the veil” (Poe 1508). Immediately we know that
(3, cell1-3) The dark omens for things to come are shown in pale colors such as grey and brown before the incineration of literature and again the artist highlights classical books such as The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, The Fall of The House Of Usher, Hedda Gabbler (33, cell 2-4) Later on as Captain Beatty recounts the dark tale of how things became the way they are, the classic books are portrayed on a dark light to emphasize the captain’s negative point of view of literature in general. Hamlet, Trasure Island, Moby Dick, and Time Magazine are all bad to society according to Beatty and the artist uses dark greens, to pale greys in this dark picture. (47, cell 3) Then as Montag tries to review the books he has hidden, the background is portrayed in a soft lighter blue and I think it gives a contrast to Beatty’s negativity on books. Blue is soft color that brings tranquility and peace of mind with a solid ground to meditate. This time Guy is searching for a light for the dark world he realizes that he lives in.
Written by Edgar Allan Poe, the famous American poet, short story writer and critic, similar literary elements were used in both stories of “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1842) and “The Black Cat” (1843). With his talent on writing horror and mystery story, he was generally considered the father of detective fiction genre. Rather than descripting a certain cruel actions directly, he tried to use characterization to create the feeling of horror. Through characterization, the psychotic personality, as well as the obsession of the protagonist was shown. Besides, symbolism was widely used to show his point of views on human nature, which can be expressed in his own words, “I have no faith in human perfectibility.
Another situation where one would feel abject and isolated is when society seems to shun and frown upon them, like Antigone from Antigone by Sophocles. Holden and Antigone have one thing in common: they both feel alienated within a group of people, but Holden brought the isolation upon