5 Gothic stories- The Tell Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, The Cask of Amontillado, Frankenstein Chapter 3
Rakeshdeep Korotana 10.01 Deadline 10/10/06
ENGLISH GCSE COURSEWORK
GOTHIC WRITING
The Tell Tale Heart
This is a story about a madman who lives with an old man and wants to murder him simply because of the fact that he doesn't like one of his eyes.
In the story it can be claimed that the narrator is obsessed with this old man's 'vulture eye' The reader believes that he is going over the top when he decides the only way to get rid of the old man's eye is to murder him. In the extract the narrator also clearly indicates what sort of effect the evil eye has on him, 'whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold: and so by degrees- very gradually- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man' Just by saying this phrase this gives the reader the impression that the narrator is mad, despite the fact that he even says that he is not mad.
Next when he creates his plan to kill the old man, he is so obsessed in making sure that no one ever discovers that it was him who slaughtered the old man. For example, he spends seven nights just looking through the old mans door. Then on the eighth night when the old man hears him, he spends a whole hour keeping still. ' For a whole hour I did not move a muscle '
Psychological/mental suffering is apparent here when he hears the old man whine in 'mortal terror' there the madman recognises the shriek as one he himself composes, he announces 'I knew the sound well a night... it welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terror that distracted me.' The reader is aware that the narrator is enduring from some cerebral disorder but can still function apparently typically.
Isolation is present throughout the story, for example, it is just the madman or the old man mentioned, there is no one else involved until the police come to the house. Emotional isolation is present throughout the narrative, and there is also separation in the room where the murder takes place.
Other gothic features in the "Tell Tale Heart" include a setting in the night, daylight is not brought into the extract, and it is at midnight when he checks up on the old man and murders him.
He wants to try and kill the old man as quickly as possible but when the old man's 'vulture eye' is closed he loses the urge to kill him. 'And I did this for seven long nights... but I found the eye always closed.' Subsequently one night when the madman was looking through the lantern, by chance he saw the old man's vulture eye open. This is when he gets the chance to murder the old man he rampages into the room with a loud bellow 'With a yell I threw open the lantern and leaped in the room.' Then he drags the old man onto the floor and throws the heavy bed over him for a good few minutes until he is at long last killed. 'In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him.' Subsequently after murdering the old man, the narrator chops up the body and hides it under the floorboards, he dresses the room so as to conceal all signs of the crime.
Then after the police are called out because a neighbour heard a scream during the night, the way the madman is showing them his house with such confidence so that the police don't suspect him of doing anything inappropriate. He even makes the police officers sit in the old man's room, but is careful that he himself sits down on top of where he hid the remains of the old man. While talking to the police officers in his confident manner, the narrator can hear a thudding; he doesn't know what it is then, but when it starts ...
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Then after the police are called out because a neighbour heard a scream during the night, the way the madman is showing them his house with such confidence so that the police don't suspect him of doing anything inappropriate. He even makes the police officers sit in the old man's room, but is careful that he himself sits down on top of where he hid the remains of the old man. While talking to the police officers in his confident manner, the narrator can hear a thudding; he doesn't know what it is then, but when it starts to get even louder he starts to get worried, could it be the heartbeat of the old man, by every second it starts to get louder then he can't take it anymore. The psycho rips up the floorboards and hands himself in. 'Villains! I shrieked, dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- Tear up the planks! - Here, here! - It is the beating of his hideous heart'
The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death is a death, which can kill you at any place within half an hour a bit like the 'black death' So because a prince named Prince Prospero doesn't want to die of the red death, he decides to build a palace into which he invites all of his friends and then seals it up so that no one can enter or exit, but what he doesn't realize is that there is no escaping the red death.
Firstly the main gothic feature in this narrative is isolation. There is isolation from the start with the palace being isolated, you can't get or out of the palace after it has been sealed up. It has been made to such strength that he hopes no one can enter or exit the palace. "A strong and lofty wall girdled it in, this wall had gates of iron. The courtiers having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts.'
The monster/ predator in this case is the 'Masque of the Red Death.' The masque of the red death is a terrible and gruesome plague that has been sweeping the land. The red death has got some atrocious symptoms; the victim is swept by convulsive agony and starts to sweat blood instead of water. It is said to kill you within half an hour. Also Poe describes it as having 'sharp pains, sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores'
Colour is used throughout the story. There are several chambers each with a different colour. One blue, one purple, one green, one orange, one white, and one violet. These are gothic features because the colour purple is associated as a funeral colour. Then the black chamber has got red windowpanes 'the seventh apartment was shrouded in black ... the panes were scarlet -a deep blood colour. The colour black is considered as a colour of death fear, and finally red is the colour of blood.
Other gothic features that are included are that after every hour or so when the clock chimes, there is a sort of freeze in time where everybody in the palace stops what they are doing. For example if someone was playing music it would just freeze. 'At each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, to hearken the sound... and there was a brief discomfort of the whole gay company.' The final gothic feature that is to be found is that all the windows are shaped in a sort of gothic cross and each of the seven chambers has something odd about it.
Then when one night the prince is holding a masquerade ball to entertain his guests, but then late into the night he notices something peculiar, it is a figure in a grey robe resembling a funeral shroud, with a mask depicting a victim of the Red Death (Prince Prospero) which all guests attending the ball have been desperate to flee. The prince finds this as a grave insult and he demands to know the identity of the mysterious guest. To the horror of all the guests, it is revealed that the mystery guest to be the personification of the Red Death itself. Once that has been revealed all the guests suddenly contract and succumb to the disease.
The Cask of Amontillado
This story is about a man called Montressor who bears a grudge for insulting his family against one of his friends who is named Fortunato. He believes that he has found a way to avenge himself that satisfies him. He tells us that he will take fortunate down to some old coal mines, intoxicate him and chain him up to suffer to death.
The story begins at a carnival in some city in Italy. The madmen in this story named Montressor finds his friend Fortunato at around about dusk, he is wearing a carnival costume as a jester and explains the manner in which he greeted him. ' He accosted me with warmth, for he had been drinking much... I was so pleased to see him that I should never have done wringing his hand.' He also tells us that Fortunato had been drinking wine. Then straight away he tells Fortunata that he wanted to go to the coal mine because there was a cask of amontillado underneath the carnival. He uses this as an excuse to lure Fortunato to the mines.
By using reverse psychology he persuades Fortunato whose knowledge of wines he admires 'but in the matter of wines he was sincere.' Fortunato follows him into the catacombs underneath his 'palazzo' to determine a newly acquired kind of Spanish sherry. They walk and talk deep into the basement discussing the physical condition of Fortunato. There was nitre underneath in the mines and because of this Fortunato starts coughing, to comfort him, he gives him some wine to drink. This is all part of his plan to intoxicate Fortunato 'my poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes... here I knocked off the neck of a bottle... Drink I said, presenting him with the wine.'
At the end of the passage when Fortunato realizes there is no cask, he stands 'Stupidly Bewildered' and this is where Montressor takes advantage of the situation, he suddenly chains Fortunato to the wall of a small alcove the size of a coffin. Subsequently Montressor seals up the doorway in such a manner that no one if they were to come down realises that new bricks have been laid. The only source of light is the torch, which Montressor also sealed up with Fortunato, which will burn out in a few hours.
Isolation is used from the start of this story, as it is only Montressor and Fortunato are the characters in this story, we do not have any other names mentioned in the story. Then they are alone in the mines.
The monster/predator this time would have to be the narrator Montressor as he is the one who is going to kill Fortunato.
Colour is hardly used, as it is very difficult to see any signs of colour due to the fact that firstly it set at dusk and most of the story is in the mines.
Frankenstein Chapter 3
Victor intends his creature to be beautiful and grateful, but it is far from being beautiful and grateful. The way to describe it is ugly, inarticulate and awkward. The creature has 'watery eyes set in dun white sockets.' Victor has a lack of controlling his creature as it much bigger than him in size. There is also a lack of control in his movements 'A convulsive motion agitated its limbs.' The creature also has a lack of speaking 'and he muttered some inarticulate sounds.' The use of the word 'wrinkled' also stresses a shortage of control. The form at motion of the 'miserable monster/wretch' only adds to the misery of Victor Frankenstein and adds to the understanding of what Victor has created.
There is isolation in the story because it Victor who by himself created the being, he doesn't have any sidekicks or helpers, he is also alone whenever creating his project.
The creature is the monster/predator as it has features different to a normal human being.
Colour is the main gothic feature used to describe the creation. 'His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath' this is telling us that firstly the monster has yellow skin, and then we are told the monster has a strange sort of black hair 'his hair was of a lustrous black and flowing' and the best off all the features is that he has 'watery eyes that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set.
Dracula
This is a story about a man named Jonathan Harker who visited a place called 'Castle Dracula' he thought of it to be a normal castle but he regrets ever entering the castle.
In Dracula the main gothic feature are isolation and imprisonment. Jonathan Harker feels like a prisoner despite the fact that he is in such a huge castle. Also he is in an isolated area as the castle is constructed on the boundary of a mountain, which is bordered by mountains as distant as the eye can see. 'To the west was a great valley and then rising far away, great jagged mountain.' This is an exemplar of the isolation Jonathon has to deal with. He is also a prisoner but he has the priority to move about freely all over the castle. 'I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of every window I could find'
Because of all the activity going on this makes Jonathan feel like a madman as there is no escape from the castle, and there is no means of contact with the outside world. 'For I behaved much as a rat does in a trap' just by saying this we get a better understanding of what sort of situation he is in. The castle is almost invincible as three of the sides are just drops, there is only entry through one-way and an exit through one way. 'Three sides it was quite impregnable and great windows were placed here where sling.' So the windows are also very high so it is unachievable to flee out of the windows
