Washington Irving is identified with the gothic with his “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, however the gothic mode can also be identified in his story, “Rip Van Winkle”. To begin, both will be compared with their use of the Gothic Mode. Edgar Allan Poe’s writing set the mold for most gothic literature to follow. From “The Raven” to “The Tell-Tale Heart” his writing sets the reader on edge and fills them with unease. “Its style tends to be ornate, unnatural” (Carter 134).
Whilst the attraction of luxuriating in the dark side of the human condition is undeniably strong in Gothic texts it must also be acknowledged that Gothic texts provide considerable insights into humanity. Discuss the above with reference to one prose core text and one related text of your own choosing. Gothic texts encompass the ability to convey the fear that underpins the human psyche in many contexts, with particular relevance to societal concerns and anxieties. Although concerns vary throughout different time periods, those confronted within texts often consist of universal themes and ideas that can be translated through different generations. Brahm Stoker’s “Dracula” highlights concerns prevalent within the Victorian era, shown through characters, symbols and themes throughout the novel.
English 113 February 16, 2013 “The Tell-Tale Heart”: Elements of Gothicism As an offshoot to Romanticism, Gothic literature became keen in the 19th Century, leaving Edgar Allen Poe to claim his title as the father of Gothicism. In Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator himself is a classic character of Gothicism. Witnessing the insanity his character is consumed by and the murder he commits, this story really gives the reader a dark perception and demonstrates a feeling of abnormality and general deviance. Throughout the entire story, the conflict morphs from the narrator versus the eye, to the narrator versus his own madness. The “Tell-Tale Heart” can be definitively be classified as Gothic literature because Poe’s strong use of imagery, symbolism, and the element of suspense captivates and further heightens the sense of how insane the narrator really is.
Why Dracula is a Gothic Novel The horror story Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, is a thrilling novel about the notorious vampire, Dracula, and about a group of men and women who suffered from his evil and fought back. This novel, written in 1897, is one of the most famous gothic novels, and one of the most famous pieces of literature still to this day. The setting of the novel, the terminology, and the deep emotion that Stoker used allows the reader, and literary critics, to classify Dracula as Gothic Literature. The elements that Dracula contains to make it gothic include the setting of a castle, a suspenseful atmosphere, dreams and visions, inexplicable events, overwhelming emotions, distressed women, metonymy of horror, and of course gothic vocabulary. For a novel to be considered gothic, it must contain certain elements; Dracula reflects many of these unique principles.
The settings presented are also dark and eeire, and Dracula himself lives in solitude with no other companion. The film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ is just as reliant on the conventions of Gothic fiction (a genre that was extremely popular in the early nineteenth century when the book was written) as the novel, making it not only follow nicely in the novel’s footsteps but also proving to be a chilling delight for the viewing audience. Gothic fiction traditionally includes elements such as wild landscapes, eerie castles, darkness, and decay, isolation, security, the supernatural and innocent maidens threatened by unspeakable evil. Stoker has utilized all of the above and consequently, as does this film adaptation. An example of this would be in the theme of isolation as Dracula’s castle is hidden in the recesses of Transylvania, kept away from civilization of any description.
The Devil and Tom Walker Gothic literature was and still is a very common form of literature in which the point of writing is to make people scared or to question their beliefs. It started around the Puritan times and was directly opposed to their views, so it was aimed at them to make them question their beliefs. Gothic literature is usually extremely dark and gloomy with more than a little death and decay throughout the story. It also almost always has some form of supernatural being or event. “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving is a perfect example of gothic literature because it has all of the characteristic features of it.
In a gothic novel there are elements of horror, mystery and suspense. The gothic elements found in Frankenstein come from the ugliness as well as killings and death. There are other examples of a gothic novel such as remorse and sadness. The atmosphere in a novel gives another element of being gothic. The novel Frankenstein contains many of these gothic elements like the atmosphere, ugliness, killings, sadness and remorse.
The Picture of Dorian Gray came at a time when the golden age of Gothic Fiction was already well passed. However the novel is seen as a revival of the gothic genre. It also redefined the elements of a gothic novel. It lacked the lovelorn heroine/hero that novels like The Mysteries of Udolpho (Anne Radcliffe) and Dracula (Bram Stoker) thrived on. The only love that is epitomized in the novel is that of the self, which proved to be perhaps its most gothic aspect.
Thus, a Gothic tradition, which continually developed and widely affected, came into being. 1. Gothic novels: The historical origin The word “Gothic” firstly came from the name of the Gothic tribe in the teutones. The teutones, which originally lived in the northern Europe, finally defeated the powerful empire of west Rome in the migrating course during several centuries. After more than 1000 years of the perdition of the west Rome empire, a Italian named Vasari(1511-1574)found the word “gothic” in the dust of history in order to refer to a kind of medieval architectural style which is disliked by the Renaissance thinkers.
To begin with the two short stories “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “by Edgar Allan Poe are two illustrations of Gothic literatures. There are several characteristics of Gothic literature spooky surroundings, glumness, and immoral dominant over the moral. Gothic literatures are more often set in old building, or big house, which portrays human decay and it’s designed a feeling of isolation and fear. Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily", and Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", both use gothic elements of technique in relating the exterior in order to reflect the gloominess of these characters feelings. Both books have similar writing style as gloomy, but foreshadowing and dystopia bring about the effectiveness of gothic literature in both books.