Gothic Literature

1. Gothic Literature And the Works of Edgar Allan Poe

2. The Gothic Tradition • Began in Europe • First Gothic Work: • 1765 The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole • Two Early Works: • Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818) • Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897)

5. Frankenstein’s Monster

6. Gothic Architecture The Gothic tradition was also reflected in architecture: vaulted ceilings, arches, stained glass windows, gargoyles

7. Notre Dame

8. Characteristics of Gothic Fiction • Mystery • Horror • The Grotesque • Violence • The Supernatural

9. The Gothic

11. “The death…of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world – and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a lover.” Edgar Allan Poe from “The Philosophy of Composition”

12. Edgar Allan Poe • His biography is often distorted • His life was filled with personal tragedy and professional failure • Poe drank to escape this failure but had a low tolerance for alcohol • Numerous women whom he loved died, most from tuberculosis • His true love, his wife Virginia died from tuberculosis; Poe watched her slowly die for five years

13. The death of a beautiful woman was a common topic of his works because he had experienced such loss himself, including his stepmother, his childhood love, and his wife

14. Poe’s professional life was full of failure • His greatest success was “The Raven,” which brought him fame, but earned him only $14.00 • Poe wrote many short stories simply for the money; ironically he is most famous for these stories • He saw himself as a poet, but could not make a living from writing poetry

15. He is the most important American poet before Walt Whitman • Poe was also an important literary critic (he was known as the “tomahawk man” for his often brutal criticism) • He is credited with the invention of the detective story (these stories provided Poe with the order & logic that was lacking in his own life)

16. Poe Poe can be considered the father of the modern horror story, influencing writers such as Stephen King and Anne Rice

18. Poe explored the dark and often irrational side of the human mind (Hawthorne explored the dark side of the human heart) • His stories often are filled with a sense of anxiety & have a dreamlike quality

19. Master of the Short Story • Along with Nathaniel Hawthorne, Poe perfected the modern short story • Poe stressed a single dominant effect in his short stories The Premature Burial

20. Poe • After the death of his wife, Poe went insane, desperately trying to find someone to take her place • His death remains a mystery; his final words were, “God help my poor soul.”

21. Poe saw women as angelic figures: “Women have been angels of mercy to me.” • Poe’s characters are often tortured by guilt • Poe’s stories are quite modern in their psychoanalytical components • Like many of his characters, Poe was caught between • Rationality & irrationality • Order & chaos

22. Sigmund Freud The human Mind: • Id • Ego • Super-Ego

23. The Human Psyche – Sigmund Freud Id • The id represented primary process thinking — our most primitive, need-gratification impulses. It is organized around the primitive instinctual drives of sexuality and aggression. In the id, these drives require instant gratification or release. Ego • In Freud's view the ego mediates between the id, the superego, and the external world to balance our primitive drives, our moral ideals and taboos, and the limitations of reality. Superego • The superego stands in opposition to the desires of the id. The superego is based upon the internalization of the world view, norms and mores a child absorbs from parents and the surrounding environment at a young age. As the conscience, it includes our sense of right and wrong, maintaining taboos specific to a child's internalization of parental culture.

24. “The Raven” • Written while Poe’s wife, Virginia, was dying from tuberculosis • The darkness of the poem– the feeling that he will be free from the pain of the memory of his “Lost Lenore” nevermore is reflective of the agony and desperation Poe felt in his own life

25. “Annabel Lee” • This poem is also about the death of Poe’s wife, Virginia, but it evinces a much more positive view of her passing. • Poe seems to have come to terms with the loss of his wife; he seems to be at peace with her passing, for she remains with him • The poem presents a romanticized memory of the death of Poe’s wife

26. “Annabel Lee” • “For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee/ And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes of my beautiful Annabel Lee.” • Contrary to “The Raven,” the narrator wants to remember his lost love; the narrator of “The Raven” wants to forget.

27. “For Annie” (1849) Thank Heaven! the crisis- The danger is past, And the lingering illness Is over at last— And the fever called “Living” Is conquered at last…

28. The moaning and groaning, The sighing and sobbing Are quieted now, With that horrible throbbing At heart: --ah, that horrible, Horrible throbbing! The sickness—the nausea The pitiless pain— Have ceased, with the fever That maddened my brain— With the fever called “Living” That burned in my brain…