‘When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little - a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it - you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily - until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye’
This shows that he is very precise about everything he does, even the opening of the lantern. The fear factor from a reader’s point of view comes not from the murder itself, but from the knowing that we ourselves have the ability to commit the same crime, to become paranoid about something to the extent where it drives us insane and perhaps towards OCD. This is made more real and believable by the way that the protagonist insists that he is not mad:
‘If you still think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealments of the body’
He is also overcome by guilt:
‘I admit the deed! – tear up the planks! – here, here! – it is the beating of hideous heart.’
These factors make the murderer seem more normal and provide an insight into a normal and sane past; this makes it seem more believable that we could turn away from our currently sane lives and to the madness of this murder. The way the narrator denies that he is mad, although he clearly is, makes the reader wonder if they will know if they are going mad or if they have gone mad already, creating fear within the reader.
The story is so realistically and accurately mad that it really does make people think very carefully about themselves. It may be so accurate because Poe was rumoured to have a rare brain disease or various types of enzyme deficiency which could have resulted in providing him with an insight into madness, therefore making the madmen in his stories seem so realistic. He was also rumoured to have diabetes, syphilis, and rabies which is conjectured with the theory that Poe was bitten by some sort of rabid pet as a young person as cats played a prominent part in many of his stories.
‘The Cask of Amontillado’ was also written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1846 and, although it is written by the same author with the same techniques, the madness of the protagonist in this story is totally different from the madness of the narrator in ‘The Tell Tale Heart.’
The madness within ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ is provided by a character called Montressor who decides to murder Fortunato after he offended him; we never find out how or why. To avenge the insult, Montressor decides to kill Fortunato. However, Montressor is very clever and cunning in the way he commits the murder.
All of the events in the story show a controlled and calculating madness. Throughout the story Montresor shows how clever and conniving he is, although through out he is doing it all for a maddening purpose. He tricks, baits and angers Fortunato into coming to the catacombs, where his real madness is revealed and he can commit the murder, by using two of Fortunato’s greatest passions; drink and his greatest enemy. However, throughout all this the audience is still on the side of Montressor and sympathises with him. This is because Poe makes Montressor out to be the victim from the very start of the story by explaining how Fortunato has offended him badly.
This story is scary because it makes people think about if they would go to the lengths that Montressor did if they were insulted badly enough. Although most people would immediately deny it, everyone has the ability to commit a crime like this. Everyone has been so insulted or angered during their lives that they have wanted revenge, they have wanted the offender to receive some sort of punishment for his actions. These thoughts would have been the thoughts that Montressor will have had before he decided to commit the murder. His actions seem more shocking, maddening and frightening as he shows many signs of normality and a sane lifestyle. Montressor as the narrator explains how there:
‘were no attendants at home: they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and have given them explicit orders not to stir from the house’
Therefore, assuming that the people he is referring to are his servants as he is commanding them, shows he is a man or wealth and of a higher class; making it more shocking that he could have committed this crime and as a result makes the reader thinks that if a member of the upper classes could do this, surely they could to.
The way that Montressor executes the crime and the build up to it also provides an insight into an educated and sane lifestyle; he is very clever and conniving in the events leading up to the murder, therefore showing that he is fairly educated. The conversation he has with Fortunato on the way to the catacombs also proves that he is a member of the masons, an organisation that specialises in building character and its members are all British stone masons. By being a member of this organisation, it makes Montressor seem more normal, and makes it more shocking that he could commit this crime. That is why the story is scary. Not for the cruel way in which Montressor buries Fortunato, but for the shocking way in which a seemingly sane and normal man, shows a completely different side of himself and lets his inner madness result in the murder of a man; all because of an insult. This makes the reader worry and think that if a man like this could turn so suddenly and dramatically, surely they could; after all, everyone has the ability and the mindset hidden within themselves to commit a murder if they are pushed enough.
‘The Signalman’ was written by Charles Dickens and published in 1866. The main idea of train accidents was probably influenced by Dickens’ own involvement in the Staplehurst rail crash on the 9th June 1865. When the train on which Dickens was traveling, while passing over a viaduct in Kent, jumped a gap in the line, causing the central and rear carriages to fall onto the river-bed below. Dickens was in the only first-class carriage to survive.
Unlike Poe, Dickens didn’t specialise in Gothic Horror stories so the story looks at different aspects of gothic horror and madness in particular.
The madness within ‘The Signalman’ comes from the signalman himself, but it is a different type of madness altogether; the madness displayed in this story is of paranoia and mental anxiety.
The narrator meets the signalman one day when he notices him acting strangely by his post, as when he shouts out to the signalman, he does not, as you would expect, look up to where the shout came from, but along the track, which is unusual:
‘One would have thought, considering the nature of the ground, that he could not have doubted from what quarter the voice came; but instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the steep cutting nearly over his head, he turned himself about, and looked down the Line.’
This is unusual as it looks like he is expecting someone or something else. This immediately implies to the reader that something is wrong and that the signalman has a problem but we do not yet what it is.
As the narrator gets to know the signalman more, he starts to see he is troubled by something. This is later revealed to be a spectre that is haunting the signalman. It is also revealed that very time the spectre has appeared an accident has occurred on the line. These include an accident that probably refers to the Clayton Tunnel rail crash’ which occurred five years prior to the books release. As the nature of the spectre is revealed, the reader begins to realise why the signalman is so troubled; every time the spectre appears, something terrible follows.
We eventually find out that the signalman has not only become paranoid about the spectre itself but about finding out what the spectre means and why it appears.
‘What is the danger? Where is the danger? There is danger overhanging somewhere on the Line. Some dreadful calamity will happen. It is not doubted this third time after what has been before. But surely this is a cruel haunting of me. What can I do?’
The questioning he uses show that he is becoming desperate for answer and paranoid about the spectre; it has taken over his entire life as he tries to work out the answers to all these questions. The reader is also trying to work out the answers to these questions now that the signalman has described them. This makes the reader realise what is running through the mind of the signalman every day.
As the narrator, he struggles with his feelings and thoughts just as we, the readers, do. While the narrator contemplates getting help for the signalman, the readers begin to empathise and pity the signalman as he attempts to get on with his life with the presence of the spectre.
When the signalman is killed by a train, it is not the actual death that is the shocking aspect, but way in which it happened. It is revealed that the events that were involved in the signalman’s death were familiar to the events that occurred when the spectre appeared; the driver uses the same words and actions to warn the signalman that, according to the signalman’s description, the spectre used when he appeared. Therefore, we must assume that the signalman’s death occurred as a result of his paranoia distracting him from his work and the immediate danger.
At this point the reader is shocked by the end result of the story, but they are also scared of becoming like the signalman. Readers are worried that they could become just as paranoid, troubled and disturbed as the signalman if they were given the right incentive to do so. Readers worry that if a man like the signalman, who we discover was once an educated and respected man could become so troubled and paranoid because of an unseen and some what supernatural power, then surely they could to; and if so could the paranoia result in their tragic death.
All of the stories I have commented on use the insanity of madness in an attempt to make the stories scary and frightening for readers. However, the language and the techniques used also help in frightening and conveying madness to the reader.
The use of first person in particular helps to convey the feeling of madness to the reader. Edgar Allan Poe uses first person to place you in the shoes of the madness itself. He uses first person in many of his short stories, including ‘The Angel of Old – An Extravaganza’, ‘The Business Man’, and ‘A Tale of Ragged Mountains’.
In ‘The Tell Tale Heart’, Poe uses first person more frequently and more often than expected to create maddening voices inside the head of the reader. By doing this he is involving the reader more and not only gives them an insight into the madness that is obvious in the story but to the madness that could lie within themselves. A good example of this technique in action takes place before and during the murderers attack in which Edgar Allan Poe uses the first person word ‘I’ sixteen times and constantly answers his own questions, therefore, the reader reading it begins to hear many voices within their head, giving them a taste of the madness that may be hidden within them.
Poe also uses the first person technique within ‘The Cask of Amontillado’. However, in this story, instead of creating voices within the reader’s head, he lets the reader see inside the murderer’s head so that you can see how clever and conniving he is in the events leading up to the murder itself. The best example of this is where Montressor reveals that there will be no attendants at home:
‘I had told them not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient; I well knew, to ensure their immediate disappearance…’
As at this point he is explaining to himself as well as the reader.
Charles Dickens also uses first person in many of his stories including ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘The Holly-Tree’. However, unlike Poe, Dickens uses first person in ‘The Signalman’ to place the reader in front of the madman, the signalman, so they can empathise with him.
By putting the reader in the position of someone else apart from the madman himself, the readers can establish for themselves the extent of his madness and what they feel for him. This is used to great effect in ‘The Signalman’, especially when as the narrator leaves after his second visit. During this time, he is struggling with his thoughts about what to do and so is the reader:
‘But what ran most through my mind was the consideration how I ought to act, having become a recipient of the disclosure?’
However, while he can’t decide what to do next, the readers contemplate their feelings for the signalman.
In conclusion, I agree with the quote by Christie Gerrard that the fear factor of gothic horror comes from the realism; we all have the ability and the potential mindset to become the madman within the story. I think that is why the books have remained frightening and popular; because although times and books change and develop new styles, human nature will always remain the same. Therefore, readers of any age and time will be scared of becoming the madman in the stories because we humans will always have the ability and mindset to become mad, deranged or paranoid. We see this more and more in our everyday society with seemingly rational and peaceful people turning to acts of terrorism and violence.
Bibliography
Internet Sites
www.wikipedia.org
www.books.eserver.org
www.eapoe.org
Books
Edgar Allan Poe:
‘The Tell Tale Heart’
‘The Cask of Amontillado’
‘The Angel of Old – An Extravaganza’
‘The Business Man’
‘A Tale of Ragged Mountains’
Charles Dickens:
‘David Copperfield’
‘The Holly-Tree’
