Gothicism in Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories 埃德加·愛倫·坡短篇小說中的哥特風格

1、gothicism in edgar allan poes short stories埃德加愛倫坡短篇小說中的哥特風格abstractthis paper is devoted to the condensed study of gothicism in poes four short classics, the masque of the red death, the black cat, the fit and the pendulum, and the fall of the house of usher. despite poes seemingly inheritance from

2、some literary forebears, his contriburion and innovation for the literary subgenre is profound and significant.the origin term of gothic can be traced back to goth, the notorious barbarous people of an old germanic tribe. gothicism develops gradually to indicate a grotesque style in architecture pre

3、vailing in the middle ages of europe and later it is used in literature to convey the idea of dark romanticism that is excluded by the ciassidsts from the mainstream of the literatus, gothic literature starts from the eighteenth century in england, and gradually forms a special school in literary wo

4、rld. among the numerous celebrated gothic classics, edgar allan poes fiction remains the most grotesque and unique.compared to the other gothic writers, poe deepens the connotation of gothic by exploring the themes of death, guilt, revenge, incest and morbid psyche as well as the supernatural myster

5、y in these tales. poe intends to psychologize the gothic and has commenced to modify the traditional gothic relationship, in which the direction of horrifying averts from outside to inside, from setting to self. the character are more likely creative originator of the terrifying rather than passive

6、victims or witnesses of their appalling plight, while the circumstances are merely the products of their imaginative mind. it is with poe that the old gemian gothic is finally brought into thecontemporary setting. darker and gloomier than the eighteenth century gothic, poes performance for novelty i

7、n composition for the theme of death achieves the uniqueness of his gothic stories and the sole effect of terror that comes not from germany, but from the soul.key words: gothicism theme of death gothic writing techniquegothicism in edgar allan poes short stories introductiongothicism is, in essence

8、, an eerier and grotesque style of architecture emerging from the middle ages in europe, which is disgusted and scorned by the so-called rational classicists. according to on-line dictionary, it is defined as the use or imitation of gothic style, as in architecture; a barbarous or crude manner or st

9、yle/ gothic made its appearance in literature initiated by horace walpole with the publishing of his first gothic novel the castle of otranto (1764). in the context of romanticism, literary gothicism is defined as a type of imitative medievalism. when it was launched in the later eighteenth century,

10、 gothicism featured accounts of terrifying experiences in ancient castles 一 experiences connected with subterranean dungeons, secret passageways, flickering lamps, screams, moans, bloody hands, ghosts, graveyards, and the rest. by extension, it came to designate the macabre, mysterious, fantastic, s

11、upernatural, and the terrifying, especially the pleasurably terrifying, which is more general in literature.one of the greatest masters for gothic literature should be edgar allan poe (1809-1849), and it would be difficult to overestimate his contribution and influence on the development of gothic l

12、iterature (punter 155), although the most controversial criticism has been passed on his works as well as his person. absolutely it is a pity that most of poes fellowmen, especially those who were in his time, failed to realize his value or appreciate his genius, while what is worse is that he has b

13、een blasphemed with the most spiteful vilification, in any cases, and got no fair judgments long after his death. reverend rufus griswold, whom he had the unfortunate idea of appointing his literary executor, branded him a perverse neurotic, a drunkard and drug addict who walked the streets, in madn

14、ess or melancholy, with lips moving in indistinct curses. (clarke i 41) emerson looked down upon him as a jingle man who could only shake his bells and called their sound poetry. mark twain condemned his work unreadable, and even henry james, the conspicuous american modernist writer, claimed that a

15、n enthusiasm for poe (was) the mark of decidedly primitive stage of reflection. (chang 146) while it is awfully strange that in european countries (and among a small portion of americans), poe has won the respect and admiration no less tough in degree than the misunderstanding or inveigh he has been

16、 opposed at home. for baudelaire, he was a fallen angel who remembered heaven, a byron gone astray in a bad world. (clarke 141) yeats sang high praise for him, regarding him as so certainly the greatest of american poets, and always, for all lands, a great lyric poet. (clarke i 41) george bernard sh

17、aw found him exquisitely refined and william carlos williams, one of the few americans who spoke for poe, proclaimed that it is poe that had given sense for the first time in america that literature was serious, not a matter of courtesy but of truth. (clarke 141)with the growing study and. research

18、in poes works and his personality, the modem tendency witnesses an increasing popularity and appreciation that justify his significance and contribution. it is progressively convinced by the modern critics that poe is one of the greatest literary figures in the u. s., who has fathered many things, o

19、ne of which is the detective stories, and the other being psychoanalytic criticism that is quite available for the interpretation of his gothic tales. many authors, either american or european, such as t. s. eliot, william faulkner and conan doyle, all confessed owing a good deal to him. poes gothic

20、 stories are enduringly arresting and everlastingly haunting, pervading his uniquely grotesque taste and morbid idiosyncrasy. in his own words, the sole effect of terror that his performance in composition achieves comes not from germany, but from the soul. (carlson 127)following the brief discussio

21、n of the term gothidsm and the literary review on edgar allan poe in the introduction, the first chapter will deal with edgar allan poe and gothic literature tracing back to the origin of “goth， with its connotation and the traditional characteristics of gothic literature before poe. obviously as a

22、result，the great influence that the gothic literary forebears exert on poe matters much for his own achievements on this very subgenre. besides, poes own wretched life tragedy provides him the gothic mind and his significance is partly due to his exploration and contribution to gothic literature.cha

23、pter two copes with the themes represented in the four stories. among all of the dark themes represented in poe s gothic stories, “death” appears to be his particular preference, permeating in almost all of his works, especially in “the masque of the red death”，“the pit and the pendulum, “the fall o

24、f the house of usher” and the black cat”. in the masque of the red death, poe has presented us an absurd story of a company, which attempts to escape death in vain under the paw of the red death”. in the pit and the pendulum” we are obsessed with the fear for death along with the hero through exposu

25、re to a panorama of a hell “the fall of the house of usher displays the terror of the doomed death，due to which the reason topples from its throne and the narrators mind totters with that of roderick usher, who ultimately perished with his sister as it destined. along with the theme of death, evil i

26、s poes another idiosyncrasy. in the black cat, the confessional, monologue of the protagonist interprets the perverseness and atrocity that ultimately destroy him. in this way, death definitely turns into the end of evil. at last，but not the least, the theme of death, which is ubiquitous in almost a

27、ll his gothic taies, throw some light on his illumination for other writers on gothic literature.chapter three treats with the writing techniques represented in the four stories to serve for the dominating theme of death, which involve the setting of gothic scene, characterization and plot knitting.

28、 in addition, the symbolic accent, which contributes to highlight foes gothic effect, is still under analysis, in company with the supernatural phenomenon interspersed in these fictions that strongly characterize gothicism of the author, both of which serve to the terminal effect of poes gothic tale

29、s terror from the soul.the conclusion part brings the whole thesis to an end and points out through the three chapters discussed above that gothicism is profoundly improved and explored in edgar allan poes short stories. it also articulates poes uniqueness and significance in this subgenre, which re

30、nders him the growing popularity in the literary world, edgar allan poes accomplishments share the universal appreciation and fondness for the value and success of his person of genuis as well as his masterpieces of talent for any ages.chapter oneedgar allan poe and gothic literaturethe word gothic

31、in literary criticism is unfortunately a synonym of the pejorative termterror. the writing style has even been scorned as a formula, bristled with violence, murder, revenge, rape, incest, or even with presence of ghost, monster or some other preternatural phenomena; the prevailing atmosphere of such

32、 fictions is somber, mysterious, horrible and always filled with a sense of suspense (xiao 91). gothicism, while budding from late eighteenth century to nineteenth century and still flourishing in modernist writing or even contemporary works, remains a special branch in the western romanticist movem

33、ent, entitled by the critics as the dark romanticism, which is far from the conceptual romanticism. it concerns not the smiling aspects of life as general romanticism does; on the contrary, the preference of gothic tales that account for the title of dark romanticism exclusively focuses on the evil

34、facets of the human psyche along with the society, gothicism is strongly characterized by its distinctive feature of dark both in plot and theme: in plot-knitting, it romances densely on ferocity and devilishness; thematically, it aims at profoundly probing into the human nature of wickedness, espec

35、ially on ethics through the unveiling of the gloomy side and malice in society, politics, religion, morality as well as humanity. (xiao 94)the subgenre of gothic novel, originated by horace walpole through the castle of otranto, (1764) with its subtitle a gothic story, has been increasingly employed

36、 and improved by his successors such as ann radicliffe, mathew g. lewis, mary w shelly, bronte sisters, washington irving, nathaniel hawthorne, edgar allan poe, till the modern novelists like henry james, william faulkner and toni morrison in their worldwide celebrated masterpieces.1.1 the definitio

37、n of the term gothicgothic comes from the word goth, which indicates one of several germanic tribes that was instrumental in the fall of the roman empire (punterl 3) in the medieval times. confirmed by the archaeologists, their early settlement was in the baltic, and gradually they migrated down to

38、the black sea. during the third century, the goths were proved to initiate their incursion into roman territory. in ad 410，they took rome under king alaric and subsequently established kingdoms in france and italy. therefore, the impressive tribe of the goths has long left people with the indelible

39、image of truculence, barbarian and ghastfulness. sometimes the word is even used to scare children.the myths that developed around the tribe are far more important than any sketchy history of the actual goths, who have come to be remembered only as invaders and destroyers of the great roman civiliza

40、tion since no literature or art of their own has been left. following the fall of rome, very little has been known about the medieval world during the renaissance, when the idea of the dark ages expanded to include the period, and gothic became a term applied to all things medieval (punterl 3). in d

41、r johnsons dictionary, goth is defined as one not civilized, one deficient, in general knowledge, a barbarian and the medieval ot gothic age as a cultural wasteland, primitive and superstitious. (punterl 4) the term was first used in an aesthetic sense, i.e. a style of architecture of the germanic t

42、ribe that sacked rome, which was disliked by the ideologists in renaissance. its typical characteristics are long and narrow corridor, dark-tinct pane and somber castle always with basement for corpses and so on. as a result, the style has been erroneously identified as barbaric, disorder and irrati

43、onal opposite to the classic one.in literary sense, it is clearly possible to speak of the gothic as a historical phenomenon, originating in the late eighteenth century, according to many critics in terms of a psychological argument, gothic literature is the product of repressed fears represented in

44、 textual form. perhaps despite, or perhaps because of the concentration of critical activity, the gothic remains a notorious difficult field to define. (punter xviii) it consists of many subgenres: the ghost story, the horror story, the techno-gothic, while their difference might be seen as importan

45、t as their similarities although all of these have obvious connections with the original gothic. since 1970s, the gothic has become a highly popular field in academic study. many books both on the gothic in general or particular subgenres and on authors have been published.1.2 gothic tradition in en

46、glish literatureone of the most studied writers is edgar allan poe, to whom the development of this subgenre is greatly indebted and significantly contributed. gothic literature inhabits the culture of england as well as the whole western world since the engendering of horace walpoles the castle of

47、otranto in 1764. afterwards, there teemed numerous world-wide celebrated gothic fictions, among which are the mysteries of udolpho by ann radcliffe, the monk by mathew g lewis, frankenstein by mary shelly and, of course, tales of the grotesque and arabesque by edgar allan poe and so on. the emergenc

48、e and flourish of the gothic fiction in the eighteenth century have particular roots in the aspects of society, history and culture. the vital factor rests on the challenge against rationalism by romanticism. renaissance in european countries has developed humanism into its full fledge, which ultima

49、tely, through allying with reformation, overwhelms the tyranny and dictator of roman catholics. romanticism has become the rage, resisting severely against rationalism and neoclassicism, which dominated the whole literary world then. gothicism is a special branch of the movement, defined by critics

50、as the dark romanticism, playing its unique role distinctively in the swim.conventionally, gothic novel has been scorned by critics who advocate neoclassicism as some inferior subgenre as aesthetically weak and morally corrupt (ellis 20) for its vicious pursuit thematically. it often incorporates ol

51、der or traditional plots, and it has appealed to fantastical or supernatural events, which.cannot be justified or analyzed by empirical or rational methods. instead of singing high praise for the virtues or exhibiting the smiling aspects of the society, gothic fiction depicts psychological and socia

52、l dilemmas and demonstrates the potential revolution by daring to speak the socially unspeakable, although the very act of speaking is an ambiguous gesture (punter 417). therefore, samuel taylor coleridge, in his lecture on literature in 1818，devoted .the first lecture lo a portrait of the (so calle

53、d) dark ages of europe, which he entitled the general character of the gothic mind in the middle ages. (ellis 23)gothic fiction, with its attempted formal effects that cannot completely be described as the hallmark of the formal realism, appears sometimes as a specific reaction to certain features o

54、f eighteenth century cultural and social life in plot-knitting and theme-probing. in the first place, it seems impossible to make much sense out of gothic fiction without continual recourse to the conception of paranoia. (punter 404) many gothic writers, whose perspectives are quite different from t

55、hose of realistic, can be seen as paranoia contributors, who insist that realism is not the whole story; in many cases, the world is much more inexplicable. thus they are zealous in creating a strong sense of suspending and inviting the reader to share in the fears or uncertainties that pervade the

56、story along with the protagonist. besides, gothic fiction is intimately to do with the notion of barbaric and the nature of taboo. violence, reveage, sexuality and homicide as well as incest are bristled in plots of got hie writings. furthermore, supernatural phenomena such as ghost, vampire and dra

57、cula always haunt the stories. thematically, traditional gothic literature一take mary shellys the mysteries of udolphos mathew glewis the monk and fuselis nightmare for example一is particularly concerned in exploiting the emotions, both by detailing the protagonists thoughts and feelings, and by invit

58、ing that the reader identify with them. (ellis 9) therefore, gothic literature has profound psychological root that can arose the sense of terror, which is the most ancient and primitive sensation of human being. corresponding to such an emotion, the aesthetic basis of the subgenre is sublime_a cont

59、radictory feeling, that derives a certain pleasure from the depiction of events or effects that are in themselves terrible (ellis 10)_rather than beautiful. traditional gothic is strongly characterized by the sense of terror. well before foes debut on the literary scene in the 1820s and 1830s and continuing long after his death in 1849, sense of horror enlivened gothic productions. since h. g lovecraft puts t