Similarities Between The House Of Usher And The Bloody Chamber

Dating back to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, gothic literature refers to a “genre portrayed by a general mood of decay, suspense and terror, or action that is dramatic and generally violent or otherwise disturbing.” Literature of the supernatural frequently demonstrates recurring themes, images and symbols to envision the human condition. Two texts, which specify settings of imprisonment and engulf those who venture into gothic settings, include The Fall of The House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe and Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. Both texts are set in a dark castle or mansion, which creates a sense of premonition, contributing toward the atmospheric element of fear and dread. The sentiment of being threatened is a fear heightened by the unknown infiltrating the storyline and generating an exceedingly sentimental narration. Beyond the literal meanings of gothic settings, two aesthetic terms are exemplified in both texts, including terror and the sublime. …show more content…
Vocabulary emphasises and glorifies the core aesthetic of ‘gothic,’ maintaining a dark and enthused impression that it defines. Emotional exaggeration and an underlined plot, or setting is employed by Gothic writers to explore the difference between appearance and reality. For example Carter analyses this in The Bloody Chamber, “I was not so much afraid of him, of his monstrous presence, heavy as if he had been gifted with more specific gravity than the rest of us, the presence that, even when I thought myself most in love with him, always subtly oppressed me… No.” Furthermore, the elevation of emotional intensity is expressed predominately in The Fall of the House of Usher through themes of madness and the deceased mind of corruption, or decay. This creates unsatisfactory conclusions, which lie beyond our depth and relate to the confrontation of