Atmosphere of Terror and Suspense in Gothic Literature Essay

1764 saw the birth of Gothic literature with the novel The Castle of Otranto, written by Horace Walpole. Although, this novel was based on some much earlier literature it set the standard for all the gothic novels that followed. The 18th century was a time when political power was in the hands of a few rich men. Women did not have the vote, let alone any legal rights. The majority of the population lived in poverty. However things were changing ? the Church was no longer as powerful and the social structure was being questioned. For example, in 1789 the French monarchy was overthrown by the masses starting the French revolution. People were no longer so willing to accept their ?lot in life?. It was in this background†¦show more content†¦The three gothic texts I will be analyzing are ?The Tell-Tale Heart/ by Edgar Alan Poe, ?The Red Room? by H.G. Wells and ?The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Alan Poe. I will be concentrating on the language used and their structure and characterization. The Tell-Tale Heart is the first-person narrative of an unnamed character that is taking care of an old man with a clouded eye. His feverishly heightened senses lead to an irrational fear of the clouded eye. The fellow becomes so distressed with the eye that towards the end he murders the old man. The narrator chops the body up, hides the pieces under the floorboards, and dresses the room so as to hide all signs of the crime. In the end, he loses his cool and bids the police tear up the floorboards to reveal the body. As in The Tell Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado also has two main characters Montresor and Fortunato, and the main character, Montresor, is also planning to k ill the other character. Montresor, wanting to kill him, baits Fortunato by telling him of a cask of Amontillado (a Spanish sherry) that he has obtained. Fortunato joins Montresor in a visit to the catacombs of the latters palaza and, drunk from the festivities of the carnival, allows him to be chained to the wall. Montresor then buries him alive by encasing his body in bricks. The story in the Red Room differs from The Tell Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado in that the main character isShow MoreRelatedGothic Literature : The Black Cat1161 Words   |  5 PagesHave you ever heard of Gothic literature? Gothic literature, also known as Gothic fiction, is the genre of combined fiction, horror and Romanticism. Examples of Gothic literature are Frankenstein, The Castle of Otranto and Dracula. As well as these pieces, one of the famous pieces of Gothic literature is The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe. The Black Cat is the short story about the unnamed narrator in the jail who is about to die in the next day. 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