Similar Gothic Elements in the Work of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne

Similar Gothic Elements in the Work of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe ar considered masters of Ameri open fire black letter fiction. They use similar Gothic elements in their musical composition and used it to build up a sense of threatening doom. Even today numerous readers enjoy, study, and discuss the gothic elements both utilise in their work. Gothic writing is a style that is vexed with the ominous side of society, an evil that lies within the self.Poe and Hawthorne contri scarceed stories which subscribeed dark struggles amid characters and society with its rules of night club of the sentence. Gothic writing is fantasy meant to entertain despite the fact that it depicts the policy-making and social problems happening at the time. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe used their writing to allow them and readers spread over with the problems of society, their own lives, and their knowledgeable demons. Poe and Hawt hornes works are still gentleman interpreted by generations of readers on m whatsoever different levels.Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most(prenominal) valiant and significant writers of fiction before the Civil War. He gained fame for publishing, The orange red Letter, and was praised for his literary style. The Scarlet Letter, allowed him to direct attention to issues he valued. Other stories like, The Birthmark, and, Rappaccinis Daughter, provided a unique view of a how a male dominate society can harm its women. Author Henry James considered him a genius and the most significant writer of his time (Norton Anthology, Nathaniel Hawthorne 1272).Often Hawthornes jobs pulled him away from his writing but allowed him to support his family. Hawthorne skillfully used gothic elements in his writing to create a clear picture of few approaching final stage. Though he favored his poetry, Edgar Allan Poe was a master weaverbird of horror tales who influenced other writers much(pre nominal) as T. S. Eliot and William Faulkner (Norton Anthology, Edgar Allan Poe 1531). His lifetime of troubles may maintain shaped his stories of haunting and death.His reputation as one of the key writers of the pale in the 18th s outright is due to selections of poetry and prose such as, The Raven, The Purloined Letter, The show-Tale warmth and The Cask of Amontillado. His story, The Murders in the sorrow Morgue, is considered to be the first modern police detective story. Poe tried to make writing his repair fashion of work but found that was not possible so he spent time doing different jobs and even joining the military for a time, none of which worked out. He was prone to drinking and had health issues most of his life.For a time, he was an editor for different publications. However, after the death of his wife, Virginia, Poes weakness for drinking change magnitude and partly contributed to his death. Hawthorne and Poe used gothic elements in their writing to buil d up the sense of impending doom. For example, Some of Edgar Allan Poes work seems to follow a pattern the indeterminate urban situations, the nightmare intensities, and above all, the confusions of consciousness as the protagonists madness destabilizes narrative and setting (Lloyd-Smith, Chapter ternary 30).Poe used these near death situations and a dreamlike feeling in his writing coupled with his morbid sense of humor to reverse the outlook of his readers. He combined in his poetry and prose ways to make his readers quiver unspeakably and tantalize them with psychological complexities. In the selections The drop dead of the domicil of Usher, and The Murders at Rue Morgue, he incorporates gothic elements of fantastic excess which invite and challenge recital (Lloyd-Smith, Chapter Three 32).To illustrate this, Nathaniel Hawthorne similarly internalized and domesticated the Gothic to explore its insights into the psychological science of everyday life, and its applicability to history (Lloyd-Smith, Chapter Three 33). His tales are full of charming or fetish objects which are used to show a serial of historical and personal meanings (Lloyd-Smith Chapter Three 33). Hawthorne used these elements to create a standard pressure of gothic strangeness that fascinate the reader due to the variety of meanings it contains such as the scarlet letter in his novel, The Scarlet Letter, or the mantic veil in The looks Black Veil. In particular, The get of the House of Usher, is justly the most famous of all Poes gothic horrors. For it is solely within the context of this nightmare that one can explain wherefore Usher, occupies such an important place in the 19th century development of the Gothic genre. With great attention to economy of expression and accord of effect, this pattern would be revisited by countless other Gothic stylists (Dougherty 6).This nub that Poe used the fantasy of impending doom in The Fall of the House of Usher to change it from being jus t an upper class dream, to a tale of horror which brought together whatever of the political situations in the nineteenth century such as those of race and class. Hawthorne and Poe successfully incorporated gothic elements in their writing which provides greater insight to the meaning and interpretation of their works. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe employ specific literary elements to bring their stories to life for their readers.For instance, Poe uses imagery to transform The Fall of the House of Usher, into a rebellion of inharmonious elements. The house has the same twist as a human head, with windows shaped like eyes, and as it begins to revert into disrepair so to do the humans inhabiting the bag, Roderick and Madeline. They are no longer governed by reason and there is a shift to corruption, insanity, and irrational behavior ( crown 32). This operator that the di lousinesstegration of the home mirrors the impending death of those living in the home as well.Ulti mately, the home crumbles and is swallowed into the waters of a small lake after Madeline and Roderick die. In addition, Nathaniel Hawthorne prolific use of emblems in his writing alerts us that they are allegories and that the stories go beyond the regional, historic, pastoral and gothic boundaries which generate and define them (Heim & Bloom 49). This means in The Birthmark, the birthmark itself authenticly symbolizes life as opposed to dishonor because when Aylmer removes it from his wifes face, he achieves the perfection he is desireing, but at the cost of her life. Alas, it was too accepted The fatal Hand gad grappled with the whodunit of life, and was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in legal jointure with a mortal frame. As the resist crimson tint of the birth-markthat sole token of human imperfectionfaded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment, near her husband, took its h eavenward escape valve (Norton Anthology, Nathaniel Hawthorne 1331).In addition, the emblem he uses in The Scarlet Letter, projects the reader should seek more meaning regarding what it really was and what it was telling the reader because it was active more than just about forbidden love. In Rappaccinis Daughter, the garden itself became a source of poison despite its incredible beauty because the flowers that make it dishy could kill anyone who comes close to them. Moreover, Hawthornes tales are critiques of the nature and efficacy of counterpoint values with which moral problems can be met (Heim & Bloom 53).This means that because of his puritan heritage, Hawthorne used his writing to explore the exchange of and the difficulty between situations transaction with desires and imagination. He looked at the moral problems and the limitations where desires and actions connect and struggle. In The Scarlet Letter, the condition is set for the struggle of forbidden sexual intercou rse between Minister Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. Poe and Hawthorne contributed stories which contained struggles between characters and the society and its rules of order of the time. For example, Hawthornes tales are often constructed to suggest that they are narratives veiled by something in the structure of the narrative itself (Heim & Bloom 68). This means that Hawthornes selections describe people who are torn between their own wishes and the differing demands of society and its rules of right and wrong. They test ones limits and the possibilities of sin and virtue with a great anxiety for righteousness. Hawthorne had an intimate understanding of the elements that piece of music and set apart the human condition.To illustrate, for Edgar Allan Poe reason seems a masquerade, adopted only when convenient as in his analysis of his own poem, The Raven, that refuses submission to its rule. He claimed the existence of a Higher Reason, accessible by intuition and self-contemplation and Poes fiction plays around this theme showing how his narrators attempt to contain their irrational experiences, drives, and desires within the rational framework(Lloyd-Smith, Chapter Five 68). Poe believed reason was reusable on his terms and the irrational could be controlled to a certain degree.This is why he is considered the father of the short story. In addition, Poes prose, continually confronts the somatic of the real body or the corpse. Death is perpetually confronted, but the opening opens only to the horror of this intransigent real such as in, The Tell Tale Heart, which begins with the narrator explaining his reason for committing murder (Lloyd-Smith, Chapter Five 69). He had neer wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye Yes, it was thisHe had the eye of a vulturea pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my line of reasoning ran cold and so by degreesvery graduallyI made up my mind to ta ke the life of the old man, and thus loose myself of the eye forever (290 Poe). Also, characters in Poes stories seem to be awaiting death and cheat it long enough to be able to convey their last message before meeting some horrifying end. His narrators also began by explaining the reason for their misdeeds or misfortunes to the reader as a preface to the actual story.Hawthorne and Poe also used their writing to allow them to deal with the problems of society, their own lives, and their inner demons. To illustrate, The Gothic public Hawthorne created in his fictionwith its his gloomy settings, concern with death, and explorations of the demonicis rudimentary to his moral and thematic purposes as it allowed him a wide-cut realm through which he could tell the dark truths about the world as he perceived it (Lloyd-Smith, Chapter Five 71). This means that the gothic elements he used in this writing allowed him to tell about social injustices he felt strongly about.Some such issues w ere slavery and the degradation of women in a male dominated society. For example, Poes works are associated with death and horror, and he finds a place among the gothic writers. In fact, Poes use of death as a central motif finds service only in his involvement of the effect which Poe suggests should be the motivation behind the creation and development of any short story(Pahl 8). The use of death as a central theme in his writing was helpful only if they produced a carnal effect on the reader.Poe felt this gothic element should be the whimsical force behind any short story that is to be real and worthy of reading. In addition, Poe strived to achieve an emotional effect of either regret or terror when he chose the unanticipated and undeserved death of new-fangled maidenssoul mates either as wives or sistersas the message most likely to inspire this gothic effect (Pahl 10). Poe often chose to confront women in his works as weak, sickly and almost deserving of some ghastly de mise. The characters were usually young and whose roles were that of sisters or wives in the selections.Finally, Hawthorne and Poe both had a fascination with death and the supernatural, which they included in their writing. These gothic elements coupled with the lessons about life, death, morality, sin and virtue in a male dominated world make their writing major sources of study and discussion even today. Readers can choose to focus on Poes specific situations set up to produce a reaction or Hawthornes ability to escape attention to details and setting. Clearly these two gothic fiction writers helped chip in the American short story with a dark twist.Works Cited Bloom, Harold. thematic Analysis of The Haunted Palace. Blooms Major Poets Edgar Allan Poe (Jan. 1999) 32-35. literary audience Center. EBSCO. Laredo Community College Library, Laredo, TX. 06 June 2009 http//search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=lfh&AN=16466202&site=ehost-live Dougherty, Stephen. Foucault i n the House of Usher Some Historical Permutations in Poes Gothic. Papers on Language & Literature 37. 1 (n. d. ) 3. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Laredo Community College Library, Laredo, TX. 0 June 2009 http//search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=lfh&AN=4316178&site=ehost-live Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et al. Vol. B. New York, W. W. Norton & Co. , 2007. 1272-1495. Heims, Neil, and Harold Bloom.. An grounding to Some Elements of Nathaniel Hawthornes Fiction. Blooms BioCritiques Nathaniel Hawthorne (Jan. 2003) 49-78. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Laredo Community College Library, Laredo, TX. 24 June 2009 http//search. ebscohost. com/login. spx? direct=true=lfh=16305750=ehost-live Lloyd-Smith, Allan. Chapter Five Major Themes in American Gothic. 65-132. Continuum International Publishing mathematical group Ltd Books, 2004. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Laredo Community College Library, Laredo, TX. 24 June 2009 http//search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true=lfh=23674509=ehost-live Lloyd-Smith, Allan. Chapter Three How to Read American Gothic. 25-35. Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd Books, 2004. Literary Reference Center.EBSCO. Laredo Community College Library, Laredo, TX. 25 June 2009 http//search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true=lfh=23674507=ehost-live Pahl, Dennis. Architects of the Abyss The Indeterminate Fictions of Poe, Hawthorne and Melville. capital of South Carolina University of Missouri Press, 1989. Poe, Edgar A. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et al. Vol. B. New York, W. W. Norton & Co. , 2007. 1528-1626. Poe, Edgar A. The Tell Tale Heart. The Portable Poe. Ed. Philip van Doren Stern. New