A Comparison Of Gothicism InThe Fall Of The House Of Usher And Ligeia

Edgar Allan Poe is an American Gothic author from the 19th century. It is well known that Edgar Allan Poe was a master of suspense. The word ‘suspense’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionary to be ‘A state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.’ Two of Poe’s works are ‘Ligeia’ and ‘The Fall of the House Usher’. ‘Ligeia’ is the story of an unnamed narrator in love with his wife Lady Ligeia and how he copes with her death. ‘The fall of the House of Usher’ is the story of an unnamed narrator visiting his friend Roderick Usher at his house. Both of them are full of suspense and this is the main topic this essay will be focusing on. This essay will attempt to illustrate how Poe builds suspense in his short stories

“Fear is not real. It is the product of thoughts you create. Danger is very real, but fear is only a choice.” Fear is not something that is always real, such as when Usher was scared but there was nothing to fear yet, but the danger at the end of the story, especially for Ushers friend, was something to fear for. In the Gothic Literature short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, the setting is somber and creates an illusion of darkness. On the other hand, “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar, portrays the idea of magical realism in, which setting is more realistic and less gloomy. Although Gothic Literature and Magical Realism are similar, there are also many differences, especially in their settings.

It is safe to say that terror often causes negative reactions. When someone is scared, their mind can take over and will impair one's ability to reason. This is shown in two stories, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar. Imagination takes over in “The Fall of the House of Usher” when Roderick Usher realizes he buried his sister alive. The mind also takes over in “House Taken Over,” when two siblings deal with a mysterious entity. Imagination overcomes reason when characters become anxious or are isolated from society.

Gothic literature is a style characterized by multiple elements, such as fear, death, gloom, as well as romantic elements like nature, individuality, and high emotion. Magical realism, on the other hand, began as a painting style. It then evolved into the literary style associated with Latin America, which puts fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction. One of the most important elements of these genres is the setting of the stories. In The Fall of the House of Usher and House Taken Over, the setting creates atmosphere, reflects genre, and reflects characters.

One of the spookiest moments of my life, was exploring an abandoned warehouse and the door slammed shut, an entire flock of birds started to fly at me. This scenario is similar to the traits of Gothic Literature and Magical Realism because it is a description of the eerie setting and events. Gothic Literature and Magical Realism are similar because they both illustrate ideas of suspense and mystery throughout. Edgar Allen Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher”is an example of Gothic lit because they have the people of the story have physiological problems and are going crazy.While Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of Magical Realism because it takes place in a realistic setting that includes ordinary details of everyday life.

Deteriorating towns are generally filled with a mere handful of inhabitants still clinging to whatever life they used to have. Houses fall apart. Quality of life decreases. People become unstable due to their inability to provide for themselves and their families. This has been seen all over: the towns become relics and the people become charity cases. When the going gets tough the tough get going; however, those inhabitants who choose to stay rewrite their endings. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of imagery portraying decay in “The Fall of the House of Usher” serves to set up the final fate of the two main characters.

One of the spookiest experiences in Harley’s life was on a cold, dark Halloween night when Harley and her friends, Lauryn and Heidi, got chased by a clown for 3 blocks on a gloomy narrow road. This scenario relates to traits  of Gothic Literature and Magical Realism because, that experience was in a dark setting and contained weird incidents and a disturbing plot. Those two genres are similar because they both usually have unrealistic characters and scary plots. However, in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher” is an example of Gothic Literature because, the story’s setting is in an isolated, creepy, and large house with odd characters and a frightening plot line, while Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of  Magical Realism because the realistic characters are accepting the unimpressed narrative tone in an ordinary way of life. Gothic Literature is a style of writing that is characterized by elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom. Settings are usually in a isolated and haunted location in a big house or castle with trap doors, dark rooms, and secret passages. Characters are usually supernatural beings or monsters.

Throughout history, various works of literature compelled the readers to feel a specific way. The authors used different techniques to illustrate emotions toward their audience. Specifically, Edgar Allan Poe, author of The Fall of the House of Usher, uses literary elements, such as imagery, characterization and word choice, to portray the build up the sense of horror.

Edgar Allen Poe's Use of Gothic Setting in The Fall of the House of Usher

Supernatural elements is something that cannot be explained by the laws of nature. These elements, such as religious figures and activities, ghosts, witches and anthropomorphized animals have been used to develop themes throughout literature. These supernatural elements are often used to outline the conflict within the plot and creates an atmosphere of mystery and suspense throughout the text, which establishes the gothic. Supernatural components leave us to question what is real and what is our imagination.

     The term Gothic refers to a genre that came about in the late eighteenth century. It can be a type of story, clothing, or music nowadays. In this paper it will refer to a style of literature. A very good example of this type of literature is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There is a sense of foreboding throughout the whole novel, which is one of the basic necessities of the Gothic. This theme of the Gothic has different characteristics that all fit into the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster and make this one of the first horror stories every told.

The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and Ligeia, there was an affinity between the many characters of each one of the stories. There were also many other analogies in the books so far as a situation, plot, setting, etc. In the story The Murders of the Rue Morgue, which is a very mysterious story, the main action commences when the narrator and another man named C. Auguste Dupin meet together because they are seeking for the same book at an ambiguous library in Rue Montmartre. The two men read about a murder in a newspaper headline, then one night they’re staying at a hotel and hear a shriek from about the fourth floor above them in which they call the cops in backlash to that. Once the cops had broken into the apartment, for the door was locked, they found what seemed to be a murder scene for all of the blood and the hair on the floor.

Gothic architecture a new style developing from an old style of architecture with similar characteristics and in a way different. Architects wanted to build bigger buildings with stronger walls something that could not be found elsewhere. The old buildings did not have windows they were dark places that in order to get light they needed many candles. Not even the candles could give the right amount of light the buildings needed. The middle ages architects wanted big windows on the buildings and this new style made their wish come true. Architecture during the Middle Ages became a new style with new problems to solve and a new kind of extraordinary buildings to build.

Edgar Allan Poe, renowned as the foremost master of the short-story form of writing, chiefly tales of the mysterious and macabre, has established his short stories as leading proponents of “Gothic” literature. Although the term “Gothic” originally referred only to literature set in the Gothic (or medieval) period, its meaning has since been extended to include a particular style of writing. In order for literature to be “Gothic,” it must fulfill some specific requirements. Firstly, it must set a tone that is dark, somber, and foreboding. Next, throughout the development of the story, the events that occur must be strange, melodramatic, or often sinister. Poe’s short stories are

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) born in the United States was a poet, writer, critic, and journalist recognized as one of the greatest exponents of the Dark Romanticism (Ultan and Olson, 51). Dark Romanticism is an American literary subgenre emerged in the nineteenth century from the philosophical movement called transcendentalism. Dark Romanticism, broadly speaking, rely very little on perfection as an innate quality of the human being, a key idea of the transcendentalists (Howard, 1). As consequence, its characters are prone to sin and self-destruction, since by nature, they are not wise or divine beings. One of the most representative authors of the current is Poe, who is