Gothic Elements In Gothic Literature

Gothic can be defined as “literature dealing with the strange, mysterious, and supernatural designed to invoke suspense and terror in the reader.” (Pickering, 2004, p. 1425) Gothic literature generally presents the same themes and motifs: love lost, hidden secrets, love and death hand in hand, beauty, youth, grotesque characters, macabre eroticism, etc. Gothic literature also explores taboo subjects such as murder, suicide and incest. “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, is representative of the Southern Gothic stories since the themes of love lost, death, and murder are present in it. There are many elements that hint at the Gothic nature of the story: Emily’s description, her house, the poison she bought, and finally the ending.

Gothic literature has been criticized as being a dreary, dark, and death-involving subset of Romanticism (a literary movement accentuating human individuality, imagination, and subjectivity). In addition, gothic lit incorporates several themes- not all about deathly acts - but includes some emotional and surprising themes such as dreams, nightmares, or hallucinations, and grotesque or bizarre occurrences. Two short stories, both written by Edgar Allan Poe, entitled “The Raven,” and “The Black Cat,” as well as the novel The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, all encompass these gothic elements, found throughout each story.

Gothic literature uses wide ranging themes and gothic elements to convey its story. Gothic literature short stories can range from romance to horror to supernatural occurrences. Horacio Quiroga’s “The Feather Pillow,” Richard Matheson’s “Prey,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” all incorporate the following gothic elements: violence, revenge, hallucinations, nightmares, and psychological issues.

Many authors apply Gothic Elements in their common works such as: “The Black Cat,” written by Edgar Allen Poe, “Prey,” by Richard Matheson, and “The Feather Pillow,” by Horacio Quiroga. In an effort to create a sense of mystery, suspense, and superstition, these authors utilize these Gothic Elements: entrapment and violence. By using these elements, authors illustrate their belief that one should express themselves through individualism.

Gothic elements are used throughout literature to create a sense of angst and horror. Gothic

In these gothic literature short stories regarding romanticism the authors often use many elements that pertain to fear however, the most prevalent themes in “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, “Prey” by Richard Matheson, “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, and “The Feather Pillow” by Horacio Quiroga are grotesqueness and violence. The authors utilize grotesqueness and violence in order to furthermore portray a dismal mood, foreshadow events to come, and to further entice the reader

Gothic literature originated in the 19th century, having diverged from the larger Romantic Movement. Like the Romantics, Gothic writers embraced the sublime nature and endeavored to evoke deep emotions in their readers. However, their motives were manifested in a fascination with the exotic and eerie human nature and the effects of guilt, evil, isolation and terror on a human being. Authors employ isolated and grotesque settings, supernatural beings and events, combines horror and romance as well as highlighting overwrought emotions. The ability to captivate reader’s emotional experience through the exploration of human weakness has allowed the Gothic genre to continue into the twenty-first century, modifying to reflect current societal concerns.

Although the phenomenon of doubling had become a Gothic trope with many seminal works of Gothic literature, with ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, came the paradigm shift that stepped away from the far off and medieval settings to a more urban landscape that was marked by uncanny architectural layouts serving as a favorite site for uncanny disturbances and psychogeographic effects of the environment on the emotions and behavior of individuals. Both the novels deal with inherent dualism both at individual as well as the societal level where the aristocracy has dedicated sites for uncanny occurrences and both are “set in London in the present day, (1800’s) and situates horror within a respectable individual, with its vision of evil reflecting on a much

Gothic is termed in the dictionary with crude and barbaric, this definition coincides with gothic literature. Gothic literature was said to be born in 1764 when Horace Walpole published The Castle of Otranto, which is considered to be the first gothic novel ever written. Gothic literature explores the aggression between what we fear and what we lust. The setting of these gothic stories were usually in some kind of castle or old building that showed human decay and created an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The words chosen in these novels and short stories were very descriptive they tended to "blend the idea of the exotic and the familiar" (The Balkans, 75).Supernatural and

All articles of gothic literature whether it is novels, short stories, poems, or anything else all share some common elements that make it gothic literature. For example, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving, and The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe all share the same gothic elements which include psychological issues, the supernatural, death, pain, and violence. All three of these examples of gothic literature all contain some sort of psychological issues. In The Devil and Tom walker for example, Tom Walker is able to speak to the devil and ends up making a deal with him that makes him do the devil’s work in exchange for a large sum of money. In The Fall of the House of Usher, the narrator

The Gothic genre has been embraced by our society. It can be found in movies, books, and other entertainment such as The Woman in Black and Batman: The Dark Knight. Through books, movies, and other gothic examples, we can see how the gothic genre has changed from just being original in style to being truly suspenseful by increasing the complexity of the suspense and adding focus on the characters and their struggles.

Throughout this essay I am going to consider and explore the ‘rules’ of gothic. I will be studying this through research, based of a number of visual texts that play within this rule. I am going to look at Tim burtons use of signature gothic theme’s and ‘playful gothic’ approaches he uses within his animations and films. I will look at Verisimilitude, the public opinion of gothic and how the audience have their expectations and preconceived understandings of what gothic already is as a genre itself. I will visit ‘The law of Genre’ Derrida outlines Formalist and post- structural ideas of genre. I will also be looking at how gothic imagery has become central to popular culture using the example of the Whitby Goth festival.

There are a multitude of purposes for gothic literary elements to be used within fictional stories. The interconnectedness of the elements—such as a fascination with the past leading to isolation or the presence of the supernatural causing someone to obtain a fear of the unknown—allows Gothicism as a whole to span over a wide range of effects within a story. In many cases, gothic elements are used to either prove or disprove the innate evil of humankind or the circumstances of which they live amongst. Similarly, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” as well as Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects can be related in that each story uses the gothic elements of psychological issues and violence to further enhance the

Gothic literature is an new, and young concept to many. It barely popped it’s head out in the mere eighteen hundreds. One of those who well mastered the concept of this was Stephen King. Stephen King was able to wrap his mind around the topic, and bend it to his will. By today’s date, Stephen King has already based some of his best works of art, of horror literature, with the fusion of gothic elements and today’s horror. Gothic literature can be defined as writing that employs dark and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices, and an overall atmosphere of exoticism, mystery, and dread. Often, a gothic novel or story will revolve around a large, ancient house that conceals a terrible secret or that serves as the refuge of an especially frightening and threatening character (Kennedy). Stephen King is able grasp this definition within Gothic literature, and put it into a more recent setting with people from this era. Creating some of his best works of art.

stories. The interconnectedness of the elements—such as a fascination with the past leading to isolation or the presence of the supernatural causing someone to obtain a fear of the unknown—allows Gothicism as a whole to span over a wide range of effects within a story. In many cases, gothic elements are used to either prove or disprove the innate evil of humankind or the circumstances of which they live amongst. Similarly, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” as well as Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects can be related in that each story uses the gothic elements of psychological issues and violence to further enhance the eerie circumstances and dark atmospheres of the stories.