AMERICAN GOTHIC LITERATURE:

A study of the works of

Edgar Allen Poe

Think, Pair, Share

When you hear the word Gothic, what comes to mind?

The Dark Side of Individualism

American Gothic

Gothic Literature

The Beginnings…

Gothic Literary tradition came to be in part from the Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages.

Gothic cathedrals with irregularly placed towers, and high stained-glass windows were intended to inspire awe and fear in religious worshipers.

• Gargoyles—carvings of small deformed creatures squatting at the corners and crevices of Gothic cathedrals—were supposed to ward off evil spirits, but they often look more like demonic spirits themselves.

•Think of the gargoyle as a mascot of Gothic, and you will get an idea of the kind of imaginative distortion of reality that Gothic represents.

Romanticism VS. Gothic

Romantic writers celebrated the beauties of nature.

Gothic writers were peering into the darkness at the supernatural.

Romanticism developed as a reaction against the rationalism of the Age of Reason. The romantics freed the

imagination from the hold of reason, so they could follow their imagination wherever it might lead.

For some Romantics, when they looked at the individual, they saw hope

For some Romantic writers, the imagination led to the threshold of the unknown—the shadowy region where the fantastic, the demonic and the insane reside.

When the Gothic's saw the individual, they saw the potential of evil.

Gothic Thematic Elements/Plot

Ancestral Curse The current

generation suffers

for evil deeds of

ancestors. Think: Poe’s

“The Fall of

the House of

Usher”

Body-Snatching Grave-Robbing. Stealing corpses

from graves, tombs, or morgues.

Illicit trade in cadavers.

Violation of religious

space.

Think: Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery.

Dreaming/Nightmares Dredge up strong

emotions, such as

ecstasy, terror, joy. Reveal urges, impulses,

desires, even truths

about oneself one tries

to hide. Reveal the future;

premonitions.

Think: Freddy Krueger movies

Entrapment/Imprisonment Being confined or trapped, as shackled to a

floor or hidden away in a dark cell. Heightens the psychology of feeling

there’s “no way out.”

Think: Saw series

Gothic Counterfeit

Playful fakery of authenticity. The text is presented as a discovery or

recovery by the editor, sometimes of an ancient or forgotten text.

Cloaks the real writer’s authorship. Complicates the point of view

(making things more fun and intriguing).

The Grotesque Mutations, often

deformities. A mix of two separate

modes, such as comedy and tragedy, creating a disturbing fiction, in which comic circumstances often preclude horrific tragedy and vice-versa.

Necromancy

The dark art of communicating with the dead.

Think: Ouija Boards, “Bloody Mary”, Séances

Revenge The act of repaying someone

for a harm caused. Revenge can be enacted

upon a loved one, a family member, a friend, an object or area.

Think:

Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” and

The Princess Bride (Inigo Montoya)

Somnambulism

Sleepwalking Hidden sources of

stress may be

revealed or acts of

guilt replayed.

The Supernatural

Events or phenomena that defy the rules of natural law.

More often, and more intriguingly, uncanny events that could be explained or dismissed (however ambiguously) by the laws of everyday reality.

Additional Themes Confinement: Many claustrophobic

settings because people feared being buried alive

Sin and Guilt: This is a carry over from anti-transcendentalism

Isolation and Alienation: Also a carry over from anti-transcendentalism

Horror VS Terror

Horror•We will say “I was

horrified!” when we describe something unsettling which we have seen•Horror is the

reaction•Something

grotesque•So appalling,

unrealistic•The “EW!”

Terror•We will say “I was

terrified!” when telling a story which involves the fear of what might have happened•Terror is the

anticipation•Depends on reader’s

imagination•Sense of uncertainty•The “Oh, no!”

Horror VS Terror in PsychoMany people consider Psycho to be an

early slasher film and are unable to watch it as they are horrified by what it portrays. This opinion is understandable. However, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is a perfect tool for demonstrating the difference between horror and terror, as this movie contains both emotions, most particularly during the Shower Scene.

DO NOWWhile watching the video clip, record

your feelings of horror and terror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4#t=16

DO NOW/ Fist to 4

Look at each image on the next slide and decide silently if you know who they are

GOTHIC CHARACTERS

Doppelganger

Ghostly counterpart of

another person. Body double, alter ego,

identical other person.

Think: Dr. Jekyll

and Mr. Hyde.

The Pursued Protagonist

A force that relentlessly, terminally and unavoidably pursues, persecutes or chastises another for some real or imagined wrong.

A crime and retribution cycle, but also…

A hero-villain can be both the pursued and the pursuer

Unreliable Narrator

The narrator’s ability to accurately relate events is suspect.

The narrator makes incorrect assumptions or conclusions, or misunderstands situations or other characters.

Think: Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart

Villain-Hero

Villain-Hero

The villain poses as a hero at the beginning of the story, or…

The villain possesses enough heroic qualities to be seen as more than just a

bad guy

Think: Dexter

Gothic Movement in America

• The Gothic Tradition was firmly established in Europe before American writers had made names for themselves.

• By the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathanial Hawthorne, and to a lesser extent Washington Irving and Herman Melville were using the Gothic elements in their writing.

• Edgar Allan Poe was the master of the Gothic form in the United States.

The Pursued Heroine

A virtuous, idealistic, and usually poetic

young woman is pursued by a wicked,

older, potent aristocrat. The pursuit threatens the young lady’s

morals and ideals (and often her virginity).

She usually responds with passive courage.

Think:Twilight series

Revenant

The return of the dead upon the living. A ghostly being who returns to life.

THINK- PAIR- SHARE Create a list of books, short stories,

plays, movies and TV shows that you think could be considered Gothic.

Be sure to include which theme/element/character type is present in each

Edgar Allan Poe His stories have:

Settings that featuring○ Dark, medieval castles○ Decaying ancient estates

Characters that are○ Male—insane○ Female—beautiful and dead (or dying)

Plots that include○ Murder○ Live burials○ Physical and mental torture○ Retribution from beyond the graveFor Poe, it was only in these extreme situations that people revealed their true

nature.

The Gothic dimension of Poe’s fictional world offered him a way to explore the human mind in these

extreme situations and so arrive at an essential truth

Southern Gothic

After the real horrors of the Civil War, the Gothic tradition lost its popularity.

During the 20th century, it made a comeback in the American South.

Authors like William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, Truman Capote, and Flannery O’Connor are grouped together because of the gloom and pessimism of their fiction.

“The Black Cat” Audio

http://ia700404.us.archive.org/4/items/stories_001_librivox/black_cat_poe_ty_64kb.mp3

Edgar Allan Poe

During a life marked by pain and loss, Edgar Allan Poe wrote haunting tales in which he explored the dark side of the human mind.

A well-read man with a taste for literature, Poe was cursed with a morbidly sensitive nature and made his feelings of sadness and depression the basis of a distinctive body of literary work.

The following is a look at the life and work of a mysterious American master.

Marked by LossPoe’s Childhood

Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809, one of three children born to a couple who toured the East as actors.

Before he was three years old, his father had abandoned the family, and his mother had died of tuberculosis.

John and Francis Allan, took Poe to their home in Richmond, Virginia and became his foster parents.With the Allan’s he briefly lived in England, and

continued his education in the United States.

A Restless SpiritPoe’s Writing

This period in Poe’s life was full of high’s and lows.1826, he started at the University of Virginia, where

his reckless habits led to heavy debt, forcing him to leave school.

He moved to Boston, where he published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems in 1827.

In 1828, he was flat broke and enlisted into the army. John Allan got him an appointment at West Point, but he found the school confining and made sure he was expelled.

A Man of LettersPoe’s Career

After leaving West Point, he moved to Baltimore to live with his aunt Maria Clemm and her young daughter Virginia. There he began writing short stories.

In 1834, he moved to Richmond to work for the Southern Literary Messenger. His reviews in the Messenger led to increased in the magazine’s circulation.

In 1836, Poe married his cousin. Soon after, a disagreement led to him leaving the Messenger and moving again, this time to New York City.

After publishing another short novel, he moved again searching for work, this time to Philadelphia.

His years in Philadelphia would be Poe’s most productive. In 1839 he was the editor of Burton’s Gentlemen’s

Magazine, to which he contributed both reviews and stories.

His first collection of short stories was published, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.

He was then fired from Burton’s in 1840. He attempted to begin his own literary magazine,

but it failed. He accepted an offer as editor of Graham’s

Magazine, where he published his groundbreaking story The Murders in the Rue Morgue” ○ The was considered groundbreaking because it was

the first detective story.

The real trouble beginsPoe’s trouble vs. success

Poe was awarded a $100 prize for his short story “The Gold Bug” published in 1845.

This brought his the recognition and success that he had always wanted.

With the success, he was hit with a major personal blow; Virginia, who had been battling illness since 1842, died.

In the years following Virginia’s death, Poe struggled with despair as well as his own failing health.

He moved back to Baltimore in 1849, where his health declined quickly.He collapsed on a Baltimore street where he

was taken to a hospital. He died a few days later.

Poe’s Reputation

Poe’s work generated strong responses. Critics either loved his work, or they hated it.

Shortly after his death, a one-time friend published a biography on Poe. This work established the view of Poe as a gifted, but socially

unaccepted writer. This tainted his reputation in America for many years. Eventually in the United States, his reputation was regained.

Today, Poe is recognized as a master of poetry, a superb writer of short stories, and a profound explorer of the torments of the human soul.

He wrote only one novel, around 50 poems, and 70 short stories.

Timeline of Poe’s Work

1809Poe was born on January 19th

1827Poe published Tamerlane and Other Poems

1831Expelled from West PointPublishes Poems

1839Poe published Tales of Grotesque and Arabesque including “The Fall of the House of Usher”

1841Poe wrote “The Murders of Rue Morgue”

1845Poe published “The Raven”

1847Poe dies in Baltimore on October 7th

1836 Poe married Virginia Clemm