Monday, March 18, 2013

Relation between "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the Gothic fiction.


  Gothic Novel, as explained during the class is basically a mixture of several categories such as horror, thriller, and Romanism. However, through further researches I did after class I was able to find out that there was a whole lot of more story behind this Gothic style. As it turned out this "The Tell-Tale Heart" doesn't actually fit in cozily into the definition of Gothic but covers the key compositions needed to build a Gothic story. So first I would elaborate on the elements of Gothic covered by the text, and then move on to the other components that makes up the rest of Gothic Fiction.
There are mainly three elements blended in this story.

The atmosphere of mystery and suspense(Horror)
  It is no bluffing to say that this is the most important point in the Gothic Literature. For the whole point of the Gothic is focused on to create a gloomy mood. There are several  parts found in this text that shows this kind of atmosphere. To begin with there is "I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture - a pale blue eye, turning my blood cold whenever it fell upon me." From this the readers are able to sniff the suspected tension that is building between the man and the old man. Moving on the part "I undid the lantern cautiously - oh, so cautiously - cautiously - I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eyes" can also show the readers how strained situation was taking place. Lastly from the scene where the man cuts the old man's body with absolutely no remorse at all creates the kind of horror that just makes your hair stand on end.

Overflow of emotion(Romanism)
  Another factor that couldn't be missed is the overflow of emotion exploding in a short period of time. For example at the time when the man finally sees the blue eyes opened at the 8th day of his visit. His fury basically explodes and his urge to kill and to savor the moment strongly imitates through the text. In addition to that, the other situation when the man snaps at the end of the story(" Villains! I shrieked, dissemble no more! I admit the deed! - tear up the planks! - here here it is the beating of his hideous heart!") also projects huge over flow of emotion such as remorse and confusion.

Metaphors that resemble such things as gloom and horror
  Lastly there are not much to say about this topic. But is insisted to pick out some things that might have different meanings, there would be Blue Eyes, Lantern, Old man, Police officers, etc..... Mere as this may seem like this provides the way for this story to be understood in various ways.
So to leave the previous part behind I would next move on to the elements not handled by the text. But before we elaborate there is a need to know more about the backgrounds of the Gothic Literature.
To make the long story short we only need to know the fact that the Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Oranto. So after having our mind based on these facts we would know look at other elements that composes the Gothic Style.

Setting in Caste
  As mentioned before for the very start of the Gothic novel was The Castle of Oranto its main settings was usually held in Castles.

Ancient Sayings
  Although it wasn't presented in the story, Ancient sayings are usually included to emit more horror or uncertainty to the atmosphere. For example, 'it is said that the ghost of a old man still wonders these halls."

Women in distress
  As a way to highlight the sympathy to the readers, the writer includes the scenery where the women are put into a situation which often leaves them fainting, sobbing, screaming, etc... And through this, the writer can lead more attention to the literature itself.
To wrap it up, these 6 factors are the composition of the Gothic fiction and the first three mentioned are the one covered by the story. 

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