"How has the Gothic genre maintain relevance?" (1000 Words)
Despite the Gothic genre originating from the 18th century, and being most prevalent during the 19th century, it has still managed to maintain its relevance in the contemporary 21st century, as Gothic composers are still able to appeal to the human senses and emotions through their incorporation of a myriad of Gothic conventions and motifs. These conventions, evident in texts such as Edgar Allan Poe’s narrative poem and short story, The Raven (1845) and The Black Cat (1843) respectively, and Henry James’ novella, The Turn of the Screw (1898), create a sense of mystery; the looming darkness of danger and evil, the fear, the suspense, and even madness, captivate readers ' attention and …show more content…
His usage of alliteration, “Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before” creates a link between the narrator’s doubt and dreams. What is reality? And what is simply a figment of one’s imagination? It is the dream-state where the hidden depth of the mind is revealed. Nevertheless, it is not explicitly revealed what the narrator was envisioning. Therefore, it is up to the reader to interpret this line, thus creating an ambiguous atmosphere. Similarly, a sense of ambiguity is manifested through the dark imagery, “Darkness there and nothing more”. What is darkness? Is it really true that darkness is all that the narrator could see? Because this can be interpreted differently by different readers, the reliability of our narrator is questioned. Poe’s reference to the Raven as “bird or fiend!” once again creates a sense of ambivalence and causes us to question the reliability of our narrator. Furthermore, this notion is reaffirmed by another reference to the Raven as “Bird or beast”. The juxtaposition between bird and a spirit or demon creates a sense of uncertainty. “In there stepped a stately Raven”, where ‘Raven’ is a symbolic representation of misfortune. The entrance of the Raven acts as an omen being delivered to the narrator, hence foreshadowing impending adversity. Poe’s biblical allusion to Homer’s Odyssey, “Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe” illuminates the narrator’s madness and the deterioration of his psyche. Poe creates this effect by contrasting cheerful drinking behaviours with the usage of an anti-depressant:
Despite the Gothic genre originating from the 18th century, and being most prevalent during the 19th century, it has still managed to maintain its relevance in the contemporary 21st century, as Gothic composers are still able to appeal to the human senses and emotions through their incorporation of a myriad of Gothic conventions and motifs. These conventions, evident in texts such as Edgar Allan Poe’s narrative poem and short story, The Raven (1845) and The Black Cat (1843) respectively, and Henry James’ novella, The Turn of the Screw (1898), create a sense of mystery; the looming darkness of danger and evil, the fear, the suspense, and even madness, captivate readers ' attention and …show more content…
His usage of alliteration, “Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before” creates a link between the narrator’s doubt and dreams. What is reality? And what is simply a figment of one’s imagination? It is the dream-state where the hidden depth of the mind is revealed. Nevertheless, it is not explicitly revealed what the narrator was envisioning. Therefore, it is up to the reader to interpret this line, thus creating an ambiguous atmosphere. Similarly, a sense of ambiguity is manifested through the dark imagery, “Darkness there and nothing more”. What is darkness? Is it really true that darkness is all that the narrator could see? Because this can be interpreted differently by different readers, the reliability of our narrator is questioned. Poe’s reference to the Raven as “bird or fiend!” once again creates a sense of ambivalence and causes us to question the reliability of our narrator. Furthermore, this notion is reaffirmed by another reference to the Raven as “Bird or beast”. The juxtaposition between bird and a spirit or demon creates a sense of uncertainty. “In there stepped a stately Raven”, where ‘Raven’ is a symbolic representation of misfortune. The entrance of the Raven acts as an omen being delivered to the narrator, hence foreshadowing impending adversity. Poe’s biblical allusion to Homer’s Odyssey, “Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe” illuminates the narrator’s madness and the deterioration of his psyche. Poe creates this effect by contrasting cheerful drinking behaviours with the usage of an anti-depressant: