LITR 4232 American Renaissance 2012 final exam—Answers to Question B1 "Gothic characteristics and uses" final exam assignment

Tracie Estrada

The Gothic is the Perfect Accompaniment to a Well Written Story

          The gothic is a popular association with Romanticism. This literary theme is thrilling with many characteristics that keep readers enthralled. Many authors have spurred its popularity while inserting the origins that have become synonymous with the gothic. For example, haunted houses and woods, maze and secret rooms, fair and dark ladies, repressed fears and desires, death and decay are some of the symbols found within gothic literature. Throughout the course there have been many authors who have used this device; however, their use of the gothic is diverse as their work.

          Specifically, early in the semester Washington Irving was introduced and both of his works have touches of the gothic.  In “Rip Van Winkle,” the evidence of the gothic is found with the line “He found the house gone to decay.” Here Rip has wakened from his slumber in the mountains to find his home in ruins; hence, the decay is proof that time waits for no man. Perhaps the obsession gothic writers have with decaying buildings is that we are mortals, even the buildings we construct will not last forever; consequently, it is a frightening to think that all that surrounds us will no longer be there one day. Additionally, in Irving’s other piece “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” he dives a bit deeper into the psyche. There are several references to ghouls and ghosts, especial when Ichabod is alone in the woods. For instance, the wilderness gothic, common with American literature, is represented by a tree Ichabod comes upon is described as “an enormous tulip-tree, which towered like a giant above all the other trees of the neighborhood, and formed a kind of landmark. Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic, large enough to form trunks for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the earth, and rising again into the air.” Irving writes further about the tree’s association with a tragic story which correlates with the haunted past wilderness gothic illuminates. Also, wilderness gothic is seen in other classic pieces.

          Summarily, with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” the wilderness gothic appears in “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Goodman Brown is traversing the forest but he has an ominous feeling that causes him to look over his shoulder. He describes his path as “darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind.” Also, this plays on the image of isolation because the forest closes behind him, swallowing him up. In fact, Goodman describes this as “lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead.” The fear of the unknown is valid; definitely, the idea that a threat lurks behind the corner is something that people have experienced in this modern time perhaps while in a walking in dark parking lotto their car or hiking alone in the woods.

However, Hawthorne uses a theme within the confines of the gothic using the Puritan period perhaps because according to Dr. White’s course site, the Puritans were concerned with the condition of the soul. Hawthorne uses the issue of original sin deeply within his Puritan gothic stories. To illustrate, in “The Minister’s Black Veil” Reverend Hooper is a frightening figure wearing a shroud to hide his secret sin which is a representation of the gothic. His veil is the symbol of the sin and how it casts a physical separation between the soul and God; however, this separation is primarily succeeds in Hooper’s isolation from those who care about him and his community. For example, “All through life that piece of crape had hung between him and the world: it had separated him from cheerful brotherhood and woman's love, and kept him in that saddest of all prisons, his own heart.” Truly, Hawthorne utilizes the gothic to instill a lesson within the text to his readers to not aspire to be like Reverend Hooper a let sin and past regrets to come between God, love, and fellowship.

On the contrary, Edgar Allan Poe’s pieces are heavy laden with the gothic for the purpose of entertaining his audience. Poe demonstrates correspondence with a generous addition of the gothic particularly in “The Fall of the House of Usher.” For instance, when Poe writes the “view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.” This mirror image is the condition of the manor home with the psychological condition of its inhabitants. Also, Poe uses the gothic element of mazes and secret passages in ways to illustrate the intricacies of the human mind by writing “through many dark and intricate passages in my progress to the studio of his master.” The gothic is the paint Poe uses on his canvas of pages to draw the reader into a dream or nightmare world.

Similarly, writers from across the pond use the gothic to illustrate the pieces. British writer Elizabeth Gaskell utilized heavy gothic themes within her writing to move her audience much like Nathaniel Hawthorne. In her short story, “The Old Nurse’s Story,” Gaskell uses the gothic in similar ways to Poe and Hawthorne. A young girl, Miss Rosamond, and her nurse are brought to a large cold isolated estate described as a “great and stately house, with many trees close around it, so close that in some places their branches dragged against the walls when the wind blew; and some hung broken down; for no one seemed to take much charge of the place.” Similarly, Gaskell uses correspondence like Poe because the outward appearance of the manor corresponds to the condition of those who live there; however, there is a component not found in the previous works mentioned, which is the innocent child or young women who is brought into an evil or haunted place. Rosamond is brought to live with distant relative who have a terrible secret and a haunted past. Therefore, when Rosamond’s great aunt is finally confronted with her past it is revealed by Gaskell that the great aunt’s mind is tormented from past mistake because her last dying words are “Alas! alas! what is done in youth can never be undone in age! what is done in youth can never be undone in age.” This is the final point that Gaskell wants to use for the benefit her readers, use of the gothic as both educational and morality which Hawthorne uses with his Puritan gothic stories.

On the whole, writers use the gothic because it works. Some writers like Rebecca Harding Davis probably unknowingly use the gothic but authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathanial Hawthorne, and their British counterparts use it with relish. Readers love to be scared; furthermore, ghost stories have been passed around the camp fire for generations. The gothic sells books but also can be useful if you are trying to illustrate a cautionary tale. The theme is used in modern time in abundance. For instance, there are several television shows like, “The Ghost Whisperer,” which uses the gothic to induce sentimentality; on the other hand, there are also movies like the Saw installments that border from gothic to pointless brutality. Personally, the gothic is best enjoyed in moderation like a fine wine accompanied with a fabulous meal.