Gothic Settings In Poe Vs. Edgar Allan Poe

Frightening occurrence, dark matters, and the macabre have intrigued human beings since the beginning of time. Gothic literature has been used throughout history to explain the unexplainable (Snodgrass “Gothic Literature” Par 1). These bloodcurdling, unnerving stories have continued to capture the interests of both readers and writers across the world. Stories of this genre contain atrocious crimes, terrifying monsters, dark settings, and satiric themes that writers of the time use to reflect their moods, cultures, and opinions on subjects that interest them. However, no other writer has come to exemplify Gothic literature better than Edgar Allan Poe. Regarded as the forefather of American Gothic, Poe is both revered and reviled across the

According to Snodgrass, settings of Gothic literature are often dark, sinister, secretive, mysterious, and claustrophobic. Some physical settings would include buildings going to ruin, monstrous castles, and even insane asylums (“Gothic Setting” Par. 1, 3-4, 6). Poe often demonstrates a sense of claustrophobia and impending doom by using tombs and crypts. This can be seen in Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, where Montresor and Fortunato walk into “[a crypt with] walls [that] had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris” (Poe 736). Montresor would later trap Fortunato in a small dark cave where he would die. Altogether, tombs are often mentioned in Poe’s stories, like in Berenice, Morella, and The Fall of the House of Usher, where characters (Berenice, Morella, and Madeline, respectively) are put to rest (and often do not remain there). Additionally, in Poe’s short story, The Premature Burial, the narrator describes the horror of being buried alive (587. Another two elements that Poe employs in his works to set the mood are darkness and the setting of masquerades to show insidiousness and uncertainty. The first example of this would be in Poe’s most famous work, “The Raven”, in which the first lines of the poem read “Once upon a midnight dreary…in the bleak December” (Poe “The Raven” 1, 7). Many other examples of

Snodgrass writes that “the peculiarities of behavior in gothic literature derive from author intent to explain the perverse, cruel, and murderous tendencies in human nature” (“Aberrant Behavior” Par. 1). Punter and Byron write that in the Victorian era, the “romantic Gothic villain is transformed as monks, bandits and threatening aristocratic foreigners give way to criminals, madmen and scientists” (26). According to Snodgrass, Edgar Allan Poe’s stories are characterized for having insane protagonists that display clouded reasoning and uncontrolled perversions (“Insanity Theme” Par. 3). Usually Poe’s characters’ insanity stems from an “obsession, particularly freakish aspirations, death madness, [and] mortal decay” (Snodgrass “Insanity Theme” Par. 3). A prime example of this is in Poe’s story The Tell-Tale Heart, in which the narrator insists that he is completely sane, but develops a hateful obsession for an old man’s eye. This obsession drives him to kill the old man; and after nearly getting away with it, he breaks down and confesses because he alone hears the incessant heartbeat of the dead old man (498-501). Another instance would be in Poe’s The Oval Portrait, in which a painter becomes so obsessed with painting a likeness of his wife that he does not notice that as he paints the canvas, her life-force is being stolen from her until there is no more (Poe