What Is a Gothic Story?
A gothic story is described as writing that employs melodramatic and startling narrative devices and an overall atmosphere of exoticism, picturesque and dark scenery. The gothic story usually revolves around a huge and ancient house that secures the most threatening and frightening characters or hides the most terrible secrets. Despite the fairly common use of this blake motif, gothic writers have often used well-known historical characters, supernatural elements, travel and adventure narratives, and touches related to romance to entertain their readers (Kennedy, 2020). Gothic stories were first developed in Britain during its romantic period.
According to the literature, its first mention of the word gothic was within the subtitle of Horace Walpole’s story during 1765, referred to as “the castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story.”This story described the main story of Lord Manfred and the curse of the family that seemed to arise after the falling of the stone helmet that killed his son on the day that he was about to be married (Kennedy, 2020). This event seemed to awaken the weirdest trend of mishaps and curses that directed the characters in this novel into complete disarray. The gothic stories mainly arose during the late 18th and 19th centuries because they were the greatest times for exploration and discovery in various fields of industry, science, and religion for the English.
What Makes a Gothic Story a Subgenre Of Horror?
The main reason why gothic story acts as a subgenre of horror is that gothic horror usually combines the use of horror, death, romance, and fiction. In fiction, horror can be considered an important genre characterized by any story that produces a response that is emotional and comprises repulsion, dread, and terror. Horror is one of the literature’s oldest genres dating back to ancient Rome and Greece. Gothic stories are characterized by mysteries and a dark atmosphere where the night is one of the key motives in gothic novels (Notes, 2022). The darkness of night is used to restrain the ability to see clearly, thus creating an atmosphere of uncertainty. This condition makes the character fails to understand what lies ahead. A desolate, haunted setting is another feature that makes a gothic story a subgenre of horror.
A gothic novel usually opens in desolate mansions, old castles, abandoned and haunted houses, which displays the common aesthetics of gothic architecture. Visions and nightmares are other features that make a gothic story a subgenre of horror. The nightmares, drug-induced hallucinations, and visions are being used to demonstrate the deep-rooted fears of the main characters and their guilt for their past sins. The visions and nightmares are being used to reveal to the readers the hidden fears of the characters. The ominous tone Is another feature that makes a gothic story a subgenre of horror, and it contributes to the feeling of uneasiness and fear. The hostility of weather is another feature in the gothic story that makes it a subgenre of horror (Notes, 2022). The storm outside is used to signify the inner storms of the main characters. It also magnifies and also mirrors the character’s feelings. The lightning and thunderstorm are normal y used to symbolize tragedy, evil, and the paranormal.
What makes Rose for Emily and the house’s fall of usher Gothic Stories?
Gothic elements in any literary work represent the intricate literature that specifically deals with unusual, mysterious, and supernatural. Most writers usually deploy these gothic elements to reveal the popular motives and themes, which consist of death, hidden truth, and complicated love. For example, in Rose For Emily, William Faulkner presents a story for an aristocrat who passes away, thus bequeathing his home to his daughter, who is known as Emily. Emily looks and also finds a suitor due to her ensuing loneliness, thus unfolding the story when Emily finds out that the home is not ready for marriage, thus making her try for her level best to avoid the homer from leaving her (Morton, 2005). Therefore, the author has used gothic elements to present a story about the social culture that has decayed and the great extent of the perpetrated horrors of human beings. Therefore, Faulkner has employed several gothic elements such as the imposing decrepit house and decrepit house and the horrors that are subject to the suspicious house of Emily. Gothic elements have contributed to the development of this plot by creating such an atmosphere.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” consists of the gothic tale features that are quintessential such as a dreary landscape, haunted house, doubled personality, and mysterious sickness. Gothic elements have also been portrayed where vagueness has acted as part of this story’s terror. It isn’t easy to trace the part of the world through which this story took place in this story. Instead of using the narrative markers of time and place, Poe employs traditional gothic elements such as barren landscape and inclement weather (Nadal, 2009). Poe also provides the use of the recognizable building blocks of the gothic takes by contrasting this standard form with an inexplicable plot full of unexpected disruptions.
References
Kennedy. (2020). What is gothic literature? ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/gothic-literature-2207825
Notes, E. (2022, January 19). Main elements of gothic literature. ElifNotes. https://elifnotes.com/main-elements-of-gothic-literature/
Morton, C. (2005). ” A Rose for Emily”: Oral Plot, Typographic Story. Storytelling, 5(1), 7.
Nadal, M. (2009). ” The fall of the house of Usher”: a master text for (Poe’s) American Gothic. Journal of English Studies, 7, 55-70.
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