Gothic Elements in Poe and Gilman’s Works
Gothic Elements in American Literature
Influence from eighteenth-century Gothic literature can be appreciated in most American literary works, and we can, therefore, see elements of such a trend in several authors. Here follows a list of some of the most significant Gothic elements:
Gothic Elements:
- Gloomy and uncanny settings
- An atmosphere of mystery and suspense
- Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events
- Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male
- The metonymy of gloom and horror
- High, even overwrought emotion
These Gothic elements were well portrayed in the stories of Edgar Allan Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who gave them their personal touch. They did not present them as traditional tales of terror, but rather as psychological stories delving into mysterious recesses of the human mind.
Edgar Allan Poe
A noticeable Gothic element is the setting, which is usually a mysterious castle, monastery, or chateau. In The Cask of Amontillado, the setting is underground in the Montresor catacombs. The passageway is claustrophobic, dripping with nitre from its proximity to a water source, and always leading downward, as if going to hell. Moreover, the atmosphere of mystery and suspense is also depicted in the story. In The Cask of Amontillado, we know that Montresor has something horrific waiting for Fortunato, and we do not discover the tragic outcome until the end. Another element that Poe uses in his stories is the psychology of the people. Montresor’s motivation for murder is vague, and he did not have a specific reason. This is distressing.
Similarly, in The Raven, the setting is a chamber, rather than a room, because a chamber has a dark and mysterious connotation. The atmosphere of mystery and suspense is mainly originated by the Raven, with its constant repetition of the word ‘Nevermore’, which drives the speaker even crazier. The image of the Raven is also associated with mystery and death, and it seems to have supernatural powers, although it is a product of the insanity of the speaker. Thus, the Raven, being a symbol of death, is a reminder of the death of the speaker’s beloved, Lenore, which will torment the speaker forever.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
In The Yellow Wallpaper, the setting is mainly a room, with a disturbing yellow wallpaper, with which the protagonist is obsessed. The room seems uncanny, isolated, and similar to a prison. This setting provides an atmosphere of mystery and suspense, especially when the protagonist becomes obsessed with the pattern of the wallpaper and imagines there is a woman inside the wall, crawling. Also, with the image of the woman trapped in the wall, we can see the apparition of supernatural elements, although imagined by the insane mind of the narrator. Moreover, we can see the character of the woman threatened by a powerful, impulsive, and tyrannical male: her husband, John. John keeps his wife locked in the summer house because of her nervous depression and forbids her to write. Women were figuratively locked into the role of wife and mother and the protagonist is physically locked into the uppermost room of the summerhouse. She feels imprisoned, which is the reason why it is suggested at the end of the story that the woman trapped in the wall is the protagonist. Thus, the story is considered a female Gothic because it expresses criticism of patriarchal, male-dominated structures.
As a way of conclusion, we can say that both Edgar Allan Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman improved Gothic literature by adding new interpretations and elements. As mentioned, Poe makes the atmosphere transmit psychological anxiety, and also incorporates a psychologically distressing element by not revealing Montresor’s motivation for murder. Perkins Gilman, very interestingly, uses the Gothic to criticize patriarchal society and structures, which is very original. We can conclude that by means of these personal touches, Poe and Gilman gave birth to a new genre: American Gothic.