Entrapment In Gothic Literature

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.

Poe and Byron are masterful at using vivid, descriptive language to develop the elements of Gothic literature and instill a sense of fear in the reader.

Horror, what is it, according to literary historian J.A. Cuddon, it is “a piece of fiction in prose of variable length…which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing.” This sets the guidelines for how the generic horror piece is written, as long as it can scare the reader in one sense or the other, or cause them to loath a certain part or character, then it can be called horror. The horror today has roots stemming from old folklore and religious traditions which had elements that dealt with death, the afterlife, and the demonic, along with the things or thing that embody a person. Horror during the 18th century was called gothic horror and this particular type of horror was invented in the

Executive Order 9066, passed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942, forced all Japanese-Americans to pack up their lives and move to internment camps, a place where they would live in shabby barracks and get treated unfairly by guards. This order confineded the American citizens in heinous camps for up to three years. Because of their heritage, which could be as little as one sixteenth Japanese, the citizens were obligated to move; they became trapped in these camps where unhappiness was present in every aspect of life. Similarly, in the novel Ethan Frome, the title character is trapped in his unhappy life due to marriage, family, property, and financial liabilities. The author, Edith Wharton uses the motif of entrapment to prove how obligations lead to unhappiness throughout the novel.

Although Gothic Elements can be very sadistic and twisted the use of it is seen in all types of stories. Some of the more famous stories that Gothic Elements are used in are the following “ A Rose for Emily,” “ The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “ The Tell- Tale Heart”. In these stories, gothic elements are found all over the place do you know why? Well the reason is that all these stories are darker stories than most. Gothic Elements are needed to make a superb scary story.

Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying

Gothic can be defined as “literature dealing with the strange, mysterious, and supernatural designed to invoke suspense and terror in the reader.” (Pickering, 2004, p. 1425) Gothic literature generally presents the same themes and motifs: love lost, hidden secrets, love and death hand in hand, beauty, youth, grotesque characters, macabre eroticism, etc. Gothic literature also explores taboo subjects such as murder, suicide and incest. “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, is representative of the Southern Gothic stories since the themes of love lost, death, and murder are present in it. There are many elements that hint at the Gothic nature of the story: Emily’s description, her house, the poison she bought, and finally the ending.

Gothic writers are well known for their works that induce grotesque and demented images to enter a reader’s brain. However, blood and gore is not the only way that Gothic writers can make your skin crawl, and the hair on the back of your neck rise. Gothic literary works contain themes of supernatural occurrences, and entrapment to induce feelings of fear, and mystery into the reader.

Edgar Allan Poe said “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” Throughout his short stories; “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe sets up his characters to subconsciously reveal their insanity. Often using syntax clues and patterns, Poe shows the madness of the narrators of his short stories. The constant theme of denial of insanity further convinces the reader of the character’s psychosis. Characters themselves often prove they are not in touch with reality through their actions. Through syntax, denial of insanity, and character’s actions, Poe allows his narrators in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” to reveal their own insanity.

When one is isolated in a civilization from the rest of society nobody benefits from the outcome. Like when the religious reform movements of the early 19th century caused communal backlash resulting from the isolation these movements had created. In the same way, the authors of these pieces of gothic literature use a variety of gothic elements such as psychological events, bizarre aspects, and loss of innocence to convey the overarching theme that mental isolation produces negative social results.

Gothic literature has been criticized as being a dreary, dark, and death-involving subset of Romanticism (a literary movement accentuating human individuality, imagination, and subjectivity). In addition, gothic lit incorporates several themes- not all about deathly acts - but includes some emotional and surprising themes such as dreams, nightmares, or hallucinations, and grotesque or bizarre occurrences. Two short stories, both written by Edgar Allan Poe, entitled “The Raven,” and “The Black Cat,” as well as the novel The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, all encompass these gothic elements, found throughout each story.

Gothic literature contains many thematic elements such as horror, death, and even at times romanticism. This type of literature incorporates various different elements, in order to evoke the emotions of terror. There are many authors who are extremely talented and are still remembered and read in classrooms today. These are authors like Edgar Allan Poe, best known for his mysterious poems and short stories, Richard Matheson and Horacio Quiroga, who have all incorporated psychological problems and violence themes in their short stories in order to fascinate the readers and add suspense to the story. These three gothic authors correlate the themes of violence and the psychological/ mental issues in order to depict anticipation and terror

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.

The power of consciousness and thought- that inner voice of reason constraining one from happiness, or perhaps protecting one from the imminent fear and gloom encompassing the Earth. This is what Romanticist writers across the centuries have worked so sedulously to convey. In the 1700’s these topics frequently arose through what is known as gothic literature, a severe configuration of Romanticism. Most gothic literature writers including Edgar Allen Poe and Horacio Quiroga, demonstrate the universal idea of this inherent, earthly darkness through the use of two elements- entrapment and mental decay. These writers manipulate these elements to show that it is the unfathomable darkness present in people’s hearts and minds that claws at them, torments and traps them; draining the souls from their bodies leaving nothing behind but broken minds. The preceding elements of entrapment and mental decay are portrayed prevalently through “The Black Cat,” “The Feather Pillow,” and “The Raven.”

Another example of insanity being the common theme in Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories can be established in “The Cask of Amontillado.” Montresor, the narrator, becomes enraged when he revisits a time long ago when his worst enemy Fortunato insulted his family. While recalling the occasion years later, Montresor confessions to a crime involving Fortunato. Considering the humiliation and disrespect Montresor felt was inflicted on his family, he wanted revenge stating, “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (Poe 250). He felt that retribution was the only way Fortunato could feel the same way as he did when the insult to his family was made. As Montresor and Fortunato walk down into the vaults to look over some newly bought wine,