Essays on Gothic fiction

FCA 1. Defends Edgar Allan Poe as a Romantic writer and provides at least three characteristics of Romanticism- 50 FCA 2. Uses language effectively by exhibiting word choices that are engaging and appropriate- 20 FCA 3. Includes sentences of varied length and structure- 15 FCA 4. Correct use of subject/ verb agreement- 15 Edgar Allan…

There is something of deep and unsettling thrill that comes from reading works of gothic literature. The dark and unsettling nature of the gothic provides a strong sense of escapism and an interesting opportunity to explore what is otherwise repressed. These traits of the gothic explain why is proved to be a growing fascination and…

The term ‘gothic’ originates from the Goths. The Goths were a barbaric tribe of German invaders of the third century. The word ‘Gothic’ symbolises cruelty, darkness and pure evil. Many of the first novels had very strong gothic themes. ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’ by Anne Radcliffe is one example, which was written in the eighteenth…

Horror literature has emerged from a blend of the rejection of the Enlightenment, the outgrowth of Romanticism, and most significantly, the early Gothic tradition. Horror writers of the eighteenth and 19th centuries were greatly inspired by neo-Gothic involvements. Edgar Allan Poe was an American horror writer during this epoch whose aggregation of extraordinary short narratives…

On Elwood: “There was not a word in her account of the institution but what was true”. On reliable narrator: “Not considered it necessary, in a work of fiction, to state every particular with the impartiality hat might be required in a law court”. Juliet Barker -” “Elwood is seen through the eyes of the…

During the pre-1914 period a number of stories had a gothic theme. The Red Room, Jane Eyre and The Fall of the House of Usher are three good examples. Gothic was the architectural style of architects when they design arches and buildings. It consisted of pointed arches and steep roofs, windows larger in proportion to…

The French Revolution and Industrial Revolution had an important influence on the fictional and nonfictional writing of the Romantic period, inspiring writers to address themes of democracy and human rights and to consider the function of revolution as apocalyptic change. Romantic poets presented a theory of poetry in direct opposition to representative eighteenth-century theories of…

The Monkey’s Paw was written in 1902, a significant time in British history. At this point in history British rule governed a quarter of the Earth’s population. It was known as the British Empire and India is just one of the countries included. In Jacobs’ story the Sergeant Major who went to India to work…

The Woman in Black is a piece of Gothic literature, which attempts to both horrify and enthral the reader through the use of gothic techniques. The story centres on a young solicitor named Arthur Kipps, who is summoned to the small market town of Crythin Gifford, to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow. Furthermore,…

The setting of a gothic novel has been described as, “usually a large mansion or remote castle which is dark and foreboding: usually isolated from neighbors” In Wuthering Heights, Bronte has used Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights to depict isolation and separation. The dark and foreboding environment described at the beginning of the novel foreshadows…