Gothic Literature In As I Lay Dying And The Fall Of The House Of

Have you ever thought someone would capable of hiding a body under some floor boards? How about a brother knowingly trapping his sister in a tomb to die? Maybe even a mother lying in bed dying as her children watch. Well if you haven’t, gothic writers certainly have. These situations are all forms of gothic literature thought up by Edgar Allen Poe and William Faulkner. Two great examples of gothic literature are As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe. Gothic Literature is the fascination with all forms of dark and cruel nature. From Family secrets to terror and even death gothic literature always finds a new way to show how psychotic one person or situation can be. Three aspects of gothic literature found in Edgar Allen Poe’s and William Faulkner’s works …show more content…
In the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" Poe describes Usher as a person who is terrified of everything. After Usher is visited by the narrator he explains his sensitivity to his surroundings. Being so sensitive, he is often frightened by many sounds and light. He explains his struggle with this sensitivity as "I must perish in this deplorable folly" (Poe 409). By saying this the reader gets a chance to see how truly scared Usher is of fear itself. The emotions shown in this statement helps show the reader how much fear Usher has to endure on a daily bases. Another example of terror Poe shows through the words of Usher is when he is explaining his fears to the narrator "I must abandon this life and reason together in some struggle with the grim phantasm FEAR" (Poe 409). This helps to show the reader that Usher is so terrified that he really truly believes he will die from fear. "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a great example of the terror aspects of gothic literature. A plot device as simple as a family secret can cause terror in a