Gothic Fiction Research Paper

Gothic Literature is characterized by elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and high

To begin, “The term Gothic fiction refers to a style of writing that is characterized by elements of fear, horror, death and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and very high emotion. These emotions can include fear and suspense.”. (Greaver, 1). This specific style of writing began in the late seventeen hundreds. Gothic fiction was created in order to keep a narrower set of viewers or readers more intrigued and interested. “The term Gothic actually originated as a term belittling the architecture and art of the period, which was dark, decaying, and dismal. The settings were often old, dilapidated buildings or houses in gloomy, lifeless, fear inducing landscapes.” (Greaver, 1). Gothic literature is often explained as an illusion that is unexplainable. “Gothic fiction hovers between the uncanny and the marvelous, offering little

Gothic literature was a popular writing tradition of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and is still used today. Gothic literature explores the wicked, perverse and dark desires. Gothic conventions can include burial alive, ghosts, hysteria, ruined bodies, tales within tales, undead characters, underground spaces, and more. Gothic themes are guilt, sex, violence, death, and cosmic struggle. Gothic stories or poems should inspire terror or horror. Edgar Allen Poe was one of the many well-known Gothic writers. In his stories he uses a variety of themes to carry out the gothic theme.

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.

Different works of gothic literature share similar gothic elements such as ambiguity, death, and nightmares. Each element contributes a different tone to the stories that bring the reader into the work. Every story contains a different element that come together to bring out the same feelings.

Riggs, Quidora, Poe, and Faulkner use gothic elements in their short stories such as monsters, grotesqueness, and death to protray their stories theme.

Gothic literature has a different way of captivating the reader. Page by Page, gothic themes are present that create mystery and evoke suspense. The Night Circus, a novel by Eric Morgenstern, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, by Washington Irving, and “The Oval Portrait”, by Edgar Allan Poe share two important themes: eerie setting and isolation. All the stories connect through a lesson that passion can become harmful.

In the early 1800’s authors used many different authors used gothic elements to inform society the abject fear and fascination can propagate. Erin Morgenstern uses death, pain, blood, entrapment, and curses to illustrate her visions on trepidation and obsession in her novella †he Night Circus. Likewise, Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving used the same elements in there works such as Poe’s The Black Cat and Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker.

Edgar Allen Poe was a popular author of gothic literature. Gothic Literature is a genre of writing that is dark or strange. There are eight elements of gothic literature. There has to be at least one of the eight elements for a piece of writing to be considered gothic. In "The Masque of the Red Death" three of the elements are a tyrannical male, a metonymy of gloom and horror, and supernatural elements.

    Gothic literature is often composed of various types of mysterious and dark elements. The writer usually adds these different elements to express a more eerie and complex story to the reader to comprehend the underlying components within the story. A famous gothic writer who is known for using these elements brilliantly in his work is Edgar Allen Poe. He is known for his many works of cryptic and enigmatic stories. Edgar Allen Poe’s stories are considered old classics of gothic literature and his works are classified as American Romanticism Gothic. Another well-known gothic writer is Joyce Carol Oates. Her works are classified as American Contemporary Gothic because of her modern day take on old-fashioned gothic literature and putting the elements of gothic literature to stories with a more modern reality.

“They told of dripping stone walls in uninhabited castles and of ivy-clad monastery ruins by moonlight, of locked inner rooms and secret dungeons, dank charnel houses and overgrown graveyards, of footsteps creaking upon staircases and fingers tapping at casements, of howlings and shriekings, groanings and scuttlings and the clanking of chains, of hooded monks and headless horseman, swirling mists and sudden winds, insubstantial specters and sheeted creatures, vampires and bloodhounds, bats and rats and spiders, of men found at dawn and women turned white-haired and raving lunatic, and of vanished corpses and curses upon heirs” (Susan Hill). In this quote Susan Hill is describing gothic architecture found in one of her stories. The dark dungeons and dank charnel houses directly points to the gothic genre.

Gothic literature is the side of writing that explores the dark and evil parts of the world. The use of gothic elements in these works help portray the authors message through these certain themes that are closely associated with fear and horror. In “The Feather Pillow” by Horacio Quiroga, “Prey” by Richard Matheson, and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe have two common themes about them. These shared gothic elements, violence/death and psychological problems, display the authors desire to expose the full evil potential of the human mind and how because of the mind, things aren’t always what they seem.

Gothic Literature depicts a style of writing that is characterized by elements of death and horror, as well as individuality, nature and a distinct superior emotion. It has been known for incorporating various different elements, in order to evoke the emotions of terror. Throughout Gothic Literature there has been multiple successful authors like Edgar Allan Poe - the father of Gothic literature- Richard Matheson and Horacio Quiroga, who have all incorporated psychological problems and violence themes in their short stories in order to fascinate the readers and add suspense to the story. These three gothic authors correlate the themes of violence and the psychological/ mental issues in order to depict anticipation and terror of the unknown for the reader. The aforementioned is evident in the following literary classics: "The Black Cat," "Prey,"and "The Feather Pillow."

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murders are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets” (Voltaire). Murders are fascinating to people and provide a great source of material for Gothic literature. These stories of terror are often a reflection of the world that we live in today. “The Precision with which Jack the Ripper thawed the bodies of his victims, neatly and cleanly removing the internal body organs, made many believe that he had a strong background in the medical science” (topyaps.com). Stories such as “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, along with the movie Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton reflect this gloomy genre. Authors of Gothic horror stories use a variety of literary elements, such as point of view, and mood to develop their works.

Gothic Literature can be defined as writing that includes a horrifying atmosphere, petrifying characters, and an unimaginable conflict. Many of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories can meet this criteria, but one can fit it the best. This would be The Black Cat. This is primarily because of the creepy underground environment, the evil antagonist within the protagonist, and the conflict of the story. First, the setting of the character can very much be shown as a part of gothic literature requirements. In the beginning, the story explains how after the narrator had done a reprehensible act by harming and later killing the innocent cat he loved so dearly, his house was caught in flames, and he lost all of his wealth. The