“You’ve just crossed over into The Twilight Zone” says Rod Serling before every episode of The Twilight Zone. A show that leaves it’s viewers in a macabre state. Instead of drawing a conclusion like most shows, the show usually ends mysteriously. It utilizes similar elements as other short half-hour shows, but goes about it in a different way. This outlandish style is seen in literature, more specifically short stories, as well. Even though other short stories employ the same literary devices, “The Beast In The Cave” by H.P. Lovecraft is uniquely mysterious because of the story’s suspenseful plot, compelling diction, and, most important, overshadowing theme. In “The Beast In The Cave”, H.P. Lovecraft develops a suspenseful plot in order to build tension throughout the story that inevitably leaves the reader feeling disturbed and the story hanging. The plot itself is seems simple, but is complicated at the same time. Victoria Nelson talks about how Lovecraft’s stories tease the reader “with the tantalizing prospect of utter loss of control, of possession or engulfment, while remaining at the same time safely contained within the girdle of a formalized, almost ritualized narrative”. With “The Beast In The Cave”, the protagonist faces only one conflict throughout the story making it a simple plot line; however, the predicament he is in provides the complexity and tension that Lovecraft creates in other stories as well. The complexity of the plot starts when the reader is introduced to a man lost in a cave and his source of light goes out and continues when the man realizes that “starving would prove [his] ultimate fate” (1). Readers get a sense of hopelessness the man is feeling, and this is where the tensions begins to build. Alt... ... middle of paper ... ...s. Design215 Inc., 2005-2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. . Fahy, Thomas Richard. The Philosophy of Horror. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky, 2010. Print. King, Stephen. “Gramma.” Skeleton Crew. New York: Signet, 1986. 464-494. Lovecraft, H.P.. “The Beast in the Cave.” The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996. 1-6. Nelson, Victoria. The Secret Life of Puppets. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2001. WNC Database. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. Tibbetts, John C. The Gothic Imagination: Conversations on Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction in the Media. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print. "The Use of Force--William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)." Classic Short Stories. B&L Associates, Bangor, Maine, U.S.A., 1995-2007. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .
Edgar Allan Poe is known for some of the most horrifying stories ever written through out time. He worked with the natural world, animals, and weather to create chilling literature. Two most notable thrillers are “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe was infatuated with death, disfigurement, and dark characteristics of the world. He could mix characters, setting, theme,and mood in a way that readers are automatically drawn into reading. Both of these short stories have the same major aspects in common.
Through the close reading and analyzing of literature we can find underlying meaning and symbols to fully understand the text better. Dracula and Frankenstein are two excellent examples of horror stories with famous monsters that, through themes and symbolism can really come to mean much more. A simple story of a vampire can turn into a representation of the Victorian era versus the modern era, and in Frankenstein nature versus science. Analyzing themes and symbolism in literature will bring out the full meaning of the text, as well as bring more enjoyment to reading it.
When writing a story that is meant to scare the reader, authors use a variety of different literary elements to intensify fear. This is apparent in the stories “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “beware: do not read this poem,” and “House Taken Over”. It is shown through transformation in the character, setting, and sometimes even the story or poem itself, adding to the scariness that the reader feels when reading it. While there are some examples of transformation not being scary or not playing a role in stories meant to scare us, transformation plays a crucial role in making the reader of these stories scared.
Morgan, J. The biology of horror: gothic literature and film. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002.
Edgar Allan Poe is known to observe humans reaction to… Both Poe, in his short stories “The Fall of the house of Usher”, and Bierce, in his short story “One of the Missing”, expose their characters to fear.
Everyone is scared of something, whether it be heights, clowns, or fear itself. Some people loathe being scared, while others relish the experience. Those who enjoy horror tend to seek it out through many sources, including movies and books. There exists a certain kind of book that is designed to strike fear into its readers, to keep them up at night. These books are known as horror stories. Many great writers in history have found their muse in the horror genre, one of them being Edgar Allan Poe. In his short life, Poe wrote many poems and short stories which are recognized as being some of the greatest horror stories of all time. For example, “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”
The story “Tell-tale Heart,” written by the amazing but possible insane, Edgar Allen Poe. Edgar instills a heavy sense of suspense and thrill through the story. Though it might not be noticeable at first glance but Edgar Allen Pow uses 3 major writing conventions; language, punctuation, and tone which in turn creates the feeling of suspense, not the setting or action. First of all, language is used to create and further intensify the suspense in “Tell-tale Heart.” When the protagonist is inside the Old Man’s room he states, “It was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel… to feel the presence of my head within the room” (Poe 2). The protagonists feelings have somehow caused the Old Man to feel his presence.
Through the use of suspense, authors can truly draw the reader into the story. Suspense in the case of gives the reader the sense of apprehension about was is going to happen next and anticipation. Two stories where suspense is depicted is Roald Dahl’s short story, “The Landlady” and Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Tell Tale Heart”. Roald Dahl’s short story, “The Landlady,” is about a young man, Billy Weaver who wants to find somewhere to stay for a night for cheap, since he is traveling for business. However, when he comes across a cheap bed and breakfast, the Landlady there, ends up acting very strange and Billy only uncovers some of her secrets, before it is too late for him to escape. In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Tell Tale Heart,” is about someone, the narrator, who finds an old man’s eye immensely disturbing. After of seven nights of attempting murderer, on the eighth night, not only does the
One of the many staples of horror fiction is the employment of a monster to aide in the fear the reader experiences. A monster gives the protagonists a tangible object to fear. When the fear is tangible the protagonists are able to be drawn into the story in a more concrete manner. The reader is also able to be included in the fear because they can get a full picture of what is scaring the main characters. Unlike ghosts or spirits, monsters provide a visual representation of the fear to be experienced. One pair of monsters stand out from the others, this is the wolfman and the werewolf. On the surface, both are seemingly the same character with a different name, but this paper is going to explore the differences between the wolfman and the werewolf as they appear in fiction and how their different manifestations relates to the characters in the story and those behind the fur. This writer believes that although there are many similarities behind the werewolf and the wolfman, there are a few differences in how the characters are portrayed. This difference is shown primarily in The Wolfman by Jonathan Maberry and The Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen king.
How W.W. Jacobs, H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens Create Suspense in their Gothic Horror Stories
Ressler, R. K. & Shachtman, T. (1997). I have lived in the monster. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, sets a tone that is dark, gloomy, and threatening. His inclusion of highly descriptive words and various forms of figurative language enhance the story’s evil nature, giving the house and its inhabitants eerie and “supernatural” qualities. Poe’s effective use of personification, symbolism, foreshadowing, and doubling create a morbid tale leading to, and ultimately causing, the fall of (the house of) Usher.
...ces and the reactions he chose to have. The book serves as a moral, if the monster had been given proper attention and guidance he could have been accepted and become ‘good’ but since society chose to outcast him and treat him cruelly, he mimicked those behaviors and likewise in turn treated humanity with cruelty. The development of the monster was extensive in the emotional, psychological and intellectual areas, the dualism of his personality gives him a double-identity which leaves us to question whether he truly became like Adam or Satan.
It seems strange that H.P. Lovecraft, who made his fortune from stories about the supernatural, would be seen as not believing in the subject which made him famous. This may subtract from Mosig’s arguments. Also, other sources suggest that this should be read as a horror story; not just for the people who saw the outsider, but also for himself, when he realized his own fate and past. Dirk Mosig’s arguments are convincing however, and his interpretation makes good sense with the complex story that is “The Outsider.”
To awaken the unconsciousness one must experience reality and develop new senses. The cave overall incorporates the idea of a movie theatre, where individuals watch life unfold on a screen, with no knowledge or desire to want to know who is playing the movie; only to sit in the darkness and watch the screen. Many of us take what they see in the movie as reality, not distinguishing between, story and fantasy; soon they begin to behave like the characters in the movie. For instance the twil...