Gothic Literature Analysis

Gothic Elements

In the book, Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, along with other gothic literatures, many gothic elements are presented and used in the stories. Gothic literature, in modern day, has developed somewhat of a dark connotation to its name. This has led to misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the dark and mysterious history that accompanies it. Entrapment, supernatural, and violence are some examples of literary techniques used in gothic literature today.
First off, Poe and Riggs both find ways to incorporate entrapment causing a feeling of mystery and subconscious hope for the characters that they will escape. In the short story The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, the prince tries to

In The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe, the main character as seen as a good and happy man who takes an interesting but terrible turn for the worst. The main character in The Black Cat begins to develop a “a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.” (Poe 1) that began to consume him and his eventually took a violent turn. The main character “took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it… and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket.” (Poe 1) which is not the last time for his violent outburst. This violence is also the downfall of his wife who he “Buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot.” (Poe 1) and unfortunately never stops his fiery gluttonous loathing for the world until he gloats too much towards the police who arrest him. This is similarly portrayed in Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children when the Wights, who are malevolent creatures that hunt and feed off of the peculiars, kill Jacobs grandfather. When Jacob found his grandfather “Soaked with blood, his pants were torn, and one shoe missing.” (Riggs 35) he could since that something, the same something that had killed his grandfather, was watching him and when he turned to see “a face that screamed directly from the nightmares of my childhood” (Riggs 37) he knew it was the evil