“哥特式”在爱伦坡《厄舍府的倒塌》中的体现

“哥特式”在爱伦坡《厄舍府的倒塌》中的体现 “哥特式”在爱伦坡《厄舍府的倒塌》中的体现 Xiaoqing Cao Professor Raymond DiPalma 19 CENT AM LIT (HLD-2088-R) 22 November 2016 1 The Presence of the “Gothic” in Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” The Gothic narrative and poem originated from European religious theology, it’s the literary genre began in the eighteenth century.1Writers from different genres have used Gothic techniques,and for hundreds of years,it have attracted many readers because of its suspenseful plotand horrifying atmosphere. The Fall of the House of Usher was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1839 and was considered an early example of Gothic literature. In this essay, I will talk about the most striking points that“Gothic” presents through the plot, the depiction of desolation and bizarre atmosphere of horror. This entire work gives a sense of darkness, either in its setting, or the language of depiction and writing art. In the matter of settings, first of all, Poe sets the story in “a soundless day” in the bleak autumn, the season that all things wither. Including inanimate dusk and low black skies, the beginning of the story already starts to make readers feel an inexplicably ominous premonition and create of melancholy. 1 2 Secondly, the scenes in The Fall of the House of Usher can be divided into external and internal parts. The locale of the story is an ancient house in a desolate field. External refers to the environment: “I looked upon the scene before me —upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain —upon the bleak walls —upon the vacant eye-like windows —upon a few rank sedges —and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees…” This plain environmental description obviously reflects the author’s own sensitivity, so that even as a reader, I have been infected with the dreariness. “The room in which I found myself was very large and lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within.” These words describe a gloomy and dim atmosphereinside the house as well, and I associate the images with the horrible and strange things that might happen there. The third crucial point in the settings is the same mental confusion, which is varying degrees of insanity that three characters in the story all have: Roderick, narrator’s friend, seems to be aware of his mental abnormality and tries to regain consciousness, which can be seen in “The writer spoke of acute bodily illness …—and of an earnest desire to see me, …by the cheerfulness of my society, some alleviation of his malady.” Madeline, his sister, has accepted her mental problems and continues to lives on, “Hitherto she had steadily borne up against the pressure of her malady, and had not betaken herself finally to bed.” The narrator finally becomes a participant in the mental breakdown of theUsher family. “… in which wonder and extreme terror were predominant, I still retained sufficient presence of mind to avoid exciting…” Although he has been suppressing his fears, in the end, he flees the house in a panic. To consider 3 Roderick’s goal is to reassure himself, on the contrary, he pushes himself to death, the plot is assuredly dark and zigzag. In terms of the art language, as I mentioned above, just the opening of the story is sufficient to cause a sense of horror. An opening is importantbecause it directly affects the readers’ experience and knowledge, through the alternate use of environmental description and psychological descriptionin Poe’s writing.Poe repeatedly mentions the fear, panic and superstition in the mind of the narrator. The narrator doesn’t like the ancient house, he comes because “a letter from him —which, in its widely importunate nature, had admitted of no other than a personal reply.” I think Poe demonstrates greatskill in using the reiterative sentences. He also combines Gothic theory with reason and craziness, uncanny atmosphere and reality. Regarding to the narratorwho keeps repeating and distinguishing whether it is a dream or not while he is on the way to Usher’s house. In general, the language of Gothic style writing is obscure and repressive. More straightforwardly, it is full of excessive description of the innate fear of human beings. House of Usher is also filled with a stifling sense of horror. It’s undeniable that Edgar Allan Poe is the master of Gothicliterature, he uses the pessimistic romantic style of literary expression to ponder and explore the eternal theme of spirit.