Gothic fiction Essays

  • The Characteristics Of The Gothic Hero In Gothic Fiction

    1096 Words  | 5 Pages

    anticipating moments in the novel or the appearance of the evil figure .84 Thirdly, the Gothic Hero (Protagonist) , in any gothic fiction a vicious character is substantial to establish the atmosphere of horror . However, a gothic hero is not necessarily a gothic villain . As in early gothic novels, specifically Radcliffean gothic fictions, the gothic protagonist is simply a helpless heroine: The very words "Gothic heroine" immediately conjures up a wealth of images for the modern reader: a young,

  • Gothic Fiction In 'Where Is Here '?'

    745 Words  | 3 Pages

    Author Joyce Carol Oates ' discovery of the stories of Edgar Allen Poe and Ann Radcliff “sparked her interest in Gothic fiction”. These Gothic elements typically include gruesome or violent incidents, characters in psychological or physical torment, and strong language full of dangerous meanings. Oates herself is citied as saying that "Horror is a fact of life. As a writer, I’m fascinated by all facets of life". “Where is Here?" This story is sort of eerie and tells the tale of a grown-up man who

  • A Comparison Of Gothic Fiction In 'A Rose For Emily'

    1588 Words  | 7 Pages

    simple pleasures of family, church, or profession. Rather, I write to those beings like myself whose existence is compounded by a lurid intermingling of the dark and the light” B. E. Scully said this as a description for Gothic fiction. Two writers, who focused on American Gothic, were William Faulkner and Charlotte Gilman. William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in the South in Mississippi, in 1897, and lived there until he left high school to join the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1918. He met a fellow

  • The Elements Of Gothic Fiction In 'The Tell Tale Heart'

    780 Words  | 4 Pages

    These stories are all in the genre of gothic fiction. They have different ways to show the themes of the stories like using darkness villains and death. The authors of these gothic fiction stories were Neil Gaiman“The Sandman” Edgar Allan Poe“The Tell Tale Heart” and Don’t Ask Jack“Neil Gaiman”. Gothic fiction is a writing type that has horror, death and fear. These are some elements of gothic fiction. In The Tell tale heart there is a butler that goes insane by a man that has an eye the size of

  • Early Gothic Proposal: Fact Or Fiction?

    781 Words  | 4 Pages

    a codicologist solves the riddles of early handwritten books. To have a clearer picture it is feasible to start with a script. Early Gothic features can be noticed: b and a, c and a, b and e are touching (“biting”), the top stroke of e is sloped upwards. Based on studying the letters a conclusion can be made that it is a transition from Caroline to Early Gothic script. This makes a rough estimation of the time of origin possible. While further decoding the text, the identified phrases lead us to

  • Gothic Fiction In 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

    585 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story “ The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short but, very interesting storying demonstrating a Gothic Fiction. As you read the story you realize the narrator is someone who claims to see specters, spirits and even believes to seeing ghost. Not only is that a characteristic of a Gothic Fiction but, she is also seen to be a women in distress which also falls in the category of a Gothic Fiction story. With a very rocky introduction the story catches the reader's attention as you find out the wallpaper

  • Vokey: A Gothic Analysis

    1335 Words  | 6 Pages

    The gothic has a close affinity to the literature of the fantastic which is about the not-yet or what is to be achieved in the future. It is defined as a ‘fantastic escapist genre’ as it enables female writers “escape from powerlessness, from meaninglessness, from lack of identity except through the performance of unstable and unsatisfying roles, and from the covert perception of the hollowness of the promises of social mythology about women’s lives,” to use the words of Kay J. Mussell (qtd. in Vokey

  • Gothic In The 19th Century

    1096 Words  | 5 Pages

    Godwin, “turned to the gothic and reinvested it with a power that would render his work influential to later writers in the genre as Charles Brockden Brown, Percy Shelley, Charles Robert Maturin ,and his daughter Marry Shelley” . 45 It is impossible to talk about early gothic novels without mentioning Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), or The Modern Prometheus for it creates anew turn in gothic fiction. Frankenstein is an idealistic scientist believes that he has discovered the secret of life

  • Rationalism In Gothic Literature

    747 Words  | 3 Pages

    therefore, that what at first the reader considers inexplicable (it cannot be explained) ends up becoming unexplained (it can be explained), a procedure that clearly approximates the Gothic story to the detective fiction This point is confirmed by Hoveyda (1967: 19) who states that these types of novels, the Gothic, also called black novels, which were very much in vogue at the end of the 18th century, have a special feature: they begin with the fear of the invisible and end with an explanation,

  • Symbolism In Gothic Literature

    1013 Words  | 5 Pages

    Gothic literature is the succession of romantic literature and a genre that particularly covers the period of time from approximately 1764 to 1840 although it has been prominent until this day. It emerged in England but expeditiously spread to France and Germany to finally pervade almost the whole world. As Jerrold Hogle writes: …it exploded in the 1790s (the decade Walpole died) throughout the British Isles, on the continent of Europe, and briefly in the new United States, particularly for a female

  • Transgression In Gothic Literature

    948 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hugh Blair labels the artistic gothic architecture – the setting, as a source of the sublime “A gothic cathedral raises ideas of grandeur in our mind, by its size, its height, its awful obscurity, its strength, its antiquity, and its durability”.14 Another key feature of the gothic genre is transgression. Transgression is simply the violation of social, cultural and moral norms. Gothic tries to get over conventional boundaries and break the rules of law and nature by transgressing to supernaturalism:

  • Gothic Elements In Rebecca

    1113 Words  | 5 Pages

    As a result many gothic subtitles appear, and it is true to regard Rebecca as ‘detective mystery’ since it includes a murder case. 25 4.3.2 The Setting and Weather The most eminent gothic elements revolve around the setting, Manderley. The setting in this story has a major contribution to the tone and mood of gothic. Rebecca is a classical- modern gothic literature. Manderley, is a colossal mansion secluded in its own world . As the classical gothic fiction is characterized by the traditional settings

  • Suspense In Detective Fiction

    1807 Words  | 8 Pages

    The detective story usually places its characters into an old house, a mansion, and the feeling of claustrophobia and mystery arises from darkness, shadows, stormy weather and light strange reflections. Atmosphere of Gothic suspense came from the threatening feeling or fear enhanced by the unknown. At times, characters did not know their ancestors and could not say where they came from (Day 1985: 123). Undoubtedly, an atmosphere of mystery and suspense is present in both kinds of productions. Works

  • Ann Radcliffe's Gothic Portrayal

    733 Words  | 3 Pages

    CHAPTER TWO Ann Radcliffe’s Gothic Portrayal I am the last leaf on the tree – Ann Radcliffe 1 2.1. Biographical Sketch Ann Radcliffe was the most popular novelist of the early gothic fiction. She wrote a series of Gothic fictions in the 1790s, just as the gothic genre was reaching its peak of popularity in England and America.2 Ann Ward was born in London on July, 1764. She was the only child of William Ward and Ann Oates. She received well education. In 1772, Ann joined a school run

  • The Black Cat Research Paper

    622 Words  | 3 Pages

    that prove he is indeed a gothic fiction author. First of all, a short story that he wrote, “The Black Cat,” states, “ ‘I may say an excellently well constructed house. These walls -- are you going, gentlemen? -- these walls are solidly put together;’ and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom” (Poe 5). Critics claim a gothic story revolves around

  • The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan And Christabel

    1106 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ancient Mariner”, “Kubla Khan” and “Christabel”. All of these three, especially “Kubla Khan” and “Christabel” are full of supernatural elements, which make poems closer to the Gothic poetry. So because of that reason I am going to discuss how “Kubla Khan” and Christabel” conform to, or deviate from, the conventions of a gothic genre, and for what purpose. “Christabel” is unfinished poem, which has two parts. Main character-Christabel is the innocent daughter of Sir Leoline. One day, while praying at

  • Essay On Gothic Romanticism

    916 Words  | 4 Pages

    As for the following segment, the main sources are, the previously mentioned Romantic Gothic and The Gothic Text by Marshall Brown. Around 1800, the so-called "dark romance" replaces the early-romantic uprising mood in Germany. Ludwig Tieck’s “Mondbeglänzten Zaubernächte” gives a rather gloomy, sarcastic and broken view of the situation. The origin of the Gothic Romanticism is found in the English Gothic novel: novels such as "Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole (1764) or Anne Radcliffe 's "The

  • Gothic Elements In Shutter Island

    1804 Words  | 8 Pages

    Setting is the key element in Gothic Literature. It displays the different places and architectures that are essentials to visualize Gothic. The setting is highly significant in a Gothic novel because it helps to add horror and fear to its mood and dreadful weakness to its characters. As said by Snodgrass, the settings of Gothic literary works present an extensional symbolic psychological case to its human characters (158).Gothic fictions are usually set in isolated landscapes or highly secured prisons

  • Dorian Gray Research Paper

    687 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is not a typical gothic novel. When read superficially, it seems to lack many key motifs that appear in gothic literature, and to simply be a work of science fiction, a plain story of good versus evil. At a closer look at the characters, motifs, symbolism, and an understanding of the history at the time, it becomes clear that Wilde created a brilliant novel, abundant with gothic themes. A gothic novel is characterized by an atmosphere of mystery and horror

  • Comparing The Cask Of Amontillado And The Tell Tale Heart

    1017 Words  | 5 Pages

    ENG-231-750 AE April 3, 2023 Gothic elements in both “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe is renowned for incorporating Gothic themes into his writing. Both "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" make use of Gothic motifs to heighten the ominous mood of their respective tales. Poe employs isolation and darkness to create a claustrophobic atmosphere in "The Cask of Amontillado." Poe is well renowned for using gothic imagery, and "The Tell-Tale