Gothic Horror Story Essays

Gothic Horror Story Essays Gothic Horror Story Essay Gothic Horror Story Essay The cask of Amontillado , Von Kennel and The Black Cat all share similar elements of the typical gothic horror story. Three elements that they all share are a typical gothic setting, women as victims, and madness/derangement on the part of the narrator or mall character. In The Masque of the Red Death Poe creates a gothic horror setting by using a lot of dark imagery. He describes the Princes castle as a dark, secluded abbey. But, we dont know where it is located or where the storys set, leaving no ties to the real world. The castle has seven rooms that are all have different color themes: blue, purple, green, orange, white, and violet. The seventh room however doesnt particularly follow this color scheme. Its all black with deep blood red colored windows, creating an eerie effect when the candlelight shines through. It also has a threatening clock that chimes every hour. This last room is different than the rest of the rooms because it symbolizes death. Poe chose to design the rooms the way he did to symbolize life to death, the flirts blue room being birth and the last black room being death. : The castle itself Is supposed to be a safe place for the healthy to party away from the dying people on the outside. The truth Is Its not actually safe; they are trapped Inside the insane Princes castle. All of these things support the gothic setting that Poe has Prince Prospers supports Popes use of giving the main character a mad or deranged personality. The narrator basically informs us that the Prince might be insane by stating, There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. First of all, he lives in a secluded castle set off from the rest of his kingdom. This shows us that he clearly doesnt care about his subjects. If he was a good ruler he would keep his home near them so that he could be aware of what they are up to. He has a very fancy artistic taste with a strange love of all things bizarre. He loves to live in the good and ignore all of the bad. This would explain why he would have a masquerade inside his castle while the rest of his kingdom is dying on the outside. Prince Prospers doesnt even want to think about all that is going wrong. He is so selfish that he locks all of the sick, dying people out while he celebrates inside his castle. Although, we get some indication in the story that a lot of this may not even be real. It may Just be entirely Prince Prospered visions/dreams, and all of the events and characters are Just figments of his imagination. However, we dont know this for sure. But, if it is true, then that Just supports how crazy he really is. There is a strange man in a suit and a mask who appears towards the end of the story, and no one could seem to get rid of him. People tried to grab him and see who was behind the mask, but no one was there. This is evidence of a supernatural force. The figure is described as tall and gaunt and blood-spattered. He appears right before the last stoke of the clock which is counting down to death. We believe that this supernatural figure represents the red death itself. Poe created this figure to show that no matter what you do, you cant escape death. You cannot avoid fate, and all of the people in this story were destined to die eventually. The plot in The Tell-Tale Heart is revolved around an insane individual who kills an old man because of his Multitude eye. The setting is described as black as pitch with the thick darkness, creating an eerie mood. There is a vague description of the action and the house where the story takes place, leaving you wondering. This all supports the typical gothic setting that Poe created. The main character in this story insists that he is sane, which basically proves that he is not. He sneaks into an old mans bedroom every night at midnight, which shows he is clearly deranged. He doesnt like this man because of his pale blue eye, with a film over it, that apparently looks similar to the eye of a vulture. One of the nights that he sneaks into the old mans room he hears what he believes to be the old mans heartbeat, getting louder, louder.. Louder. He feels that is it getting so loud hat the neighbors may hear it, and he must kill him to get it to stop. He crushes him with a mattress until he suffocates and then dismembers the body and stuffs him under the floorboards. He later turns himself into the police because he thinks that they can hear the dead old mans heartbeat from the floorboards underneath. The haunting of the old mans heart is possibly evidence of the supernatural. The fact that it was audible underneath the floorboards even though the man was deceased suggests that there may have been a supernatural force. The old man could have been haunting him for what he did on purpose. Poe did this to show exactly insane the old man is that he thought he could actually hear his heartbeat A gothic setting is used in The Black Cat to show man-kinds dark side. Black cats are known for bad luck and superstitions, and Poe purposefully used this cat to create an eerie mood. The setting is described as dark and shadowy. There are many different settings in this story, although none of them have much physical description. This story is written from the main characters Jail cell, explaining all of the events that led him to imprisonment. Murder also occurs in this story, giving more proof of a gothic setting. The main character in this story used to have a nice personality. He was kind to everyone and was very loving. Then, he became an alcoholic. He became very violent and ill-tempered, and abused his wife and pets. He eventually kills his pet black cat, which he now believes is haunting him. He sees it all the time, and each time the cat appears in smaller and smaller places. He also later kills his wife, and hides her in one of the walls in his home. All of these things prove that there is clearly something wrong with the main character, and he is definitely insane. The main character keeps seeing visions of a black cat. It will appear, disappear, and then reappear, tormenting and reminding him of his evil deed. He believes that this is the ghost of his cat that he killed. Then, the mans house burns down, and the only wall left standing is the one where he hid his dead wife. The police discover this and arrest the man. This shows that there may be evidence of the supernatural. His house mysteriously burnt down and that Just happened to be the only wall left. His wife may be haunting him from the dead, making sure that he would be punished for what he did. The Cask of Amontillado uses a typical gothic horror setting throughout the story.