'Twas a Dark and Stormy Night: The Gothic Style of the Arts Essay

The gothic world is dark and can contain evil, dark and mysteries. The short stories “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, “The Black Cat” written by Edgar Allen Poe, “Prey” written by Richard Matheson, “The Feather Pillow”, written by Horacio Quiroga and the novel “The Night Circus” written by Erin Morgenstern all represent several gothic elements. Isolation or entrapment is a gothic element that is found in “The Night Circus”, “A Rose for Emily” and “The Feather Pillow “. Violence or revenge is a gothic element that is well represented by the short stories “The Black Cat”, “Prey” and the novel “The Night Circus”. The narrators use these types of gothic elements to prove that if you stay away from people around you or force others to isolate themselves from the world and act evil towards others, it will lead to your own catastrophe.

After Horace Walpole redefined the term “Gothic” with his literary form that mixed history and fantasy in a way that was meant to create wonder and terror, the term developed to take a on many interconnected meanings. These meanings include “Goths/Visigoths” which Edward Gibbon describes as “a general appellation of rude and warlike barbarism”(Moreland, slide 29). It is also a Medieval style of architecture and an “unwritten” constitution which describes the “ traditional balance of power in British politics between the royalty and the people”(Moreland, slide 31). The final meaning is that of Gothic fiction whose characteristics include: strong emotion (mainly terror/horror), antiquity, haunting, isolation, obscurity/mystery and/or monstrousness/grotesquerie. Among the 18th and 19th century fiction that draw upon and foreground these meanings are Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and Stoker’s Dracula.

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.

“Frankenstein” is a gothic/science fiction novel that keeps the reader at the edge of their seat. It is filled with scenes of love, power, tragedy, and much more. This novel, is packed to the rims with themes and lessons, most of them dealing with creation; however, I wanted to discuss a theme that is lying beneath the surface and is buried in the text. This paper explores how Frankenstein mistakes friendship for possession. This theme will be analyzed using gender, class, a tone of disgust, possession, and disappointment, imagery of beauty, and lastly, metaphor.

Gothic literature is a style of writing dating back to 1764, some of the most important elements of this writing style are of an eerie setting and mental decay, stories that made great use of these elements are: “The Raven”, “Black Cat”, “The House of Usher”, and “The Devil and Tom Walker”. The authors use the gothic element of eerie setting so that they can enhance the mood of the story and of mental decay to highlight what the conflict in the characters’ lives is causing.

The world of the gothic is a place where the threshold of uncertainty is emphasized and asserted. Gothic literature is the playground of humanity’s deepest anxieties and fears; it teases with the audience by confronting the elements of society that are most seldom mentioned. In gothic literature, this anxiety causing shadow element is known as the liminal. To further clarify what the luminal is, it is something which hides in metaphorical shadows that exist just beyond the reader's attention. When the liminal emerges it is meant to provoke a fearful response in the audience that is fueled by personal anxiety. Perfect liminal elements cause a subconscious response of fear in both the audience and the characters of the story. This kind of liminal

In Bowen’s article, he discusses the different gothic motifs that make up gothic literature such as power and restraint, clashing time periods, strange places, terror versus horror, and a world of doubt. “Edward Scissorhands” has always been considered a strange film while We Have Always Lived in a Castle has always been considered a gothic novel. According to Bowen’s list of gothic motifs, “Edward Scissorhands” would be considered more gothic than the novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle because it fits more of the gothic conventions.

In life, some people prefer to watch movies, and some people prefer to read books. Then there are some who love both movies and books. However, when one genre is portrayed in cinema and in literature, it is easy to compare the two. Are they complementary or are they in opposition to each other? In terms of gothic cinema and literature, they are both complementary to one another. In the two movies, The Conjuring and The Skeleton Key, gothic cinema proves to go hand in hand with the style of textual gothic and they both show to have a strong aesthetic force. In the pieces of gothic literature, “The Falls,” “The Book of Blood,” and “Amityville Horror,” they are all very strong gothic pieces which all have a strong aesthetic force.

Novel in particular and literature in general is more than just a work of fiction but in fact the hidden reflection of a specific historical era. Although, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights and Dracula were written in different times and each leaves its readers with different emotion and contemplation stages, they all share an affinity: the presence of Gothic elements. Indeed, these novels are designed to lead their reader into thrilling journeys through spooky dark setting, suspense horrifying plot, and claustrophobic atmosphere. These elements, though appear in various forms throughout these three novels, still excellently accomplish their mission of enticing the readers to be caught up in the narrative.

All too often the gothic literature genre is reduced in its interpretation to gloomy weather and archaic haunted houses. These patterns do exist, but they do not define the genre. Gothic literature found its niche in the 18th and 19th centuries, and during the Victorian era it served a more nuanced purpose than simply to scare readers. Many gothic authors used a monster as a vessel to symbolize topics that the Victorian era sensibilities would label as “monstrous.” They are the incarnation of the taboo subjects society is trying to repress. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart”, the authors use Freudian symbolism along with literary symbolism to demonstrate the repercussions of repressing “id” desires.

A story of mystery, tragedy, and terror, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein continues to captivate millions. She writes the tale of mankind’s obsession of the unknown, pulling readers to Frankenstein’s many lessons. Mary Shelley affects literature with her seemingly paradoxical use of both Romanticism and Gothicism. Shelley takes elements of romanticism, such as heavy use of emotions, innocence, and characters achievements, while also using gothic aspects like death, violence, and dark weather. Weaving the two genres together, Mary Shelley creates a timeless science fiction novel containing characteristics of serenity with a sense of eeriness.

on the aid of Hell itself, and to find things familiar in the world of

There is one known very influential writing style called Gothic Literature. It is not only considered to involve the horror or gothic element but is combined with romance, superstition, women in distress, omens, portents, vision and supernatural events to name a few (Beesly). The history and beginning of this era is not well known. From a few writers came this writing style that has impacted the world. A famous artists known for this type of writing is a man named Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote many short stories and poems that include horror, gothic, and romance just mentioned.

Gothic Literature is a style of literature popularized during the late 18th century and the early 19th century with the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This style usually portrays fantastic tales dealing with the horror, despair, the grotesque and other “dark” subjects. Characteristics of gothic literature includes the presence of victims and their victimizers who usually hold immense powers along with their evil purpose. The setting of this kind of literature generally takes place within impenetrable walls, whether physical or mental. This setting creates a sense of hopeless isolation within the victim. The summarization of the characters and situation creates an atmosphere pervaded by a sense of mystery, darkness, oppressiveness, fear, and doom.

The term gothic fiction implies a British literary genre from the late eighteenth, and early nineteenth century. The modernized term seems to have been generalized into anything that is dark, gloomy, or depressing. Gothic novels often time posses an emphasis on portraying the terror, a prominent use of supernatural circumstances, the presence of highly stereotyped characters, and the attempt to display techniques of literary suspense. There are also other parallels among this vastly popular genre. Gothic novels often time describe the city of London in corresponding ways. Also a common theme amongst gothic literary works is the duality of human nature, or the quality or characteristic of being twofold. These mutual themes are apparent in