This idea of the supernatural is later picked up again in a painting, “Rape of the Sabines”, where the focuses of the picture “suggested some grisly mythological subject”. Here, the supernatural strikes terror as well, displaying itself in a horrific, but at the same time, erotic, manner. This act of sexual brutality plays a role in creating the tension of the atmosphere. Also, this is where inanimate objects are put in a sexual light – “rich breast of a woman”, “naked sword”, “naked stone”. This could be because the writer is trying to suggest that in the castle, everything is stripped down to its bare elements – everything is in its primal state, just as sex is a primal desire, which will lead the protagonist to strip away the “garments” of her innocence; the heart of Man is corrupt. This alludes to the Freudian theory of the Superego, the Ego and the Id. The Id is the centre of Man, and it is greedy, selfish and lives by the pleasure principle. That is, to do whatever feels good despite whatever society’s norms are. The protagonist’s innocence is merely a cover for her own distortion. This disturbs the reader’s mind into questioning his own projected image and perturbs him. There is also a sense of violation, as the character’s innocence is taken away from her through events in the castle.
The concept of isolation is also eminent. First we know the castle is in the middle of the ocean, cut off from all correspondence with any form of civilization. The “silence” is repeated: “the silent ocean…all silent, all still.” This stress on the quiet is to further isolate the protagonist. Later the backdrop seems to take on a sinister quality as it uses the silence to strangle her: “The heavy hangings on the wall muffled my footsteps, even my breathing.” The inanimate objects are becoming diabolical, further augmenting the enigmatic atmosphere. Also, the quiet seems to be getting heavier, whereas in the beginning she could still hear the “murmuring of the waves”, she could not even “hear the sound of the sea” later on. This might be attributed to her being in the “viscera of the castle”, symbolically seen as the fountainhead of the wickedness. The stillness invokes the idea of Death, a Gothic theme which is recurs very much throughout the passage. This creates a sense of unease within the reader, just as much as it does the character, such that it causes “sweat [to spring] out in beads on [her] brow”. She also speaks of someone lying to her. It is unclear who the “he” is, but he had deliberately created a veil of deceit to confuse her. This makes her seem as if she is in danger, contributing to the menacing atmosphere. The theme of Death is reiterated again in the description of a “worm-eaten oak” door. Here, decomposition is integrated with degeneration, and there are hints of neglect. The macabre situation further draws attention to the threatening atmosphere of the story. Violence also takes a role in the creation of the atmosphere, with pictures of rape (“The Rape of the Sabines”), and similes that compare a key sliding into the door to “a hot knife” slicing “into butter”. The violence acts as a forewarning to the brutality which the protagonist will discover later.
Foreshadowing is also seen when the narrator compares “the act of love” to “the ministrations of a torture” – a subtle line on sadism and masochism. She says her experience on her “marriage bed” has “subtly tainted” her innocence. This insinuates that sex can be pervasive, as she will discover further later. This generates fear within the reader without being obvious. She also shows the pervasiveness of such corruption also by her attraction and repulsion of the torture chamber. There is a fusion of thrill, fear, enthrallment and awe, to create the dark atmosphere for the reader. The atmosphere is further built on by the ambiguity of the identity of the antagonist, who is constantly referred to as “he”. The closest that the malevolent force against her is given a name is when “a metal figure”, a tool for mutilation, is made known as ‘The Iron Maiden’. She also associates the various “instruments for mutilation” to pictures she had seen in “holy books”. This comparison of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ makes it an even sharper contrast, and makes the chamber she stumbled upon an even more appalling one. The protagonist then talks about “desecration”, implying how evil pervades everything. She talks of “funerary urns”, a “sacerdotal” smell of “incense” and “white candles”. It gives rise to the impression that she has stumbled upon an ancient (evidenced by the “funerary urns of great antiquity”) ritual of death. Moreover, the catafalque is “in the centre of the room”, and is seen as the ‘highlight’. The idea of death and brutality is incorporated with eroticism, when the “blue imprints” of the “strangler’s fingers” are contrasted to the opera singer’s “white breast”. A sadistic image is also exhibited by the smile formed by her “dead lips”. An indication of a double is also present. Right after the protagonist speaks of taking of her “garments” of innocence and hence becoming “naked”, the spotlight is swiftly pushed to the dead opera singer who “lay quite naked” as well. Just as the opera singer was strangled, so did the character find earlier her “breathing” was being “muffled”. This creates a morbid fascination within the reader, who will want to continue to find out if they will share the same fate.
Hence, we see that Carter has successfully maneuvered the Gothic convention of a dark and mysterious setting in the text while effectively integrating other elements of the Gothic, allowing the reader to experience what the protagonist is going through.
