The American author Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) was a master of the literary genre known as the Gothic story. Gothic stories are romantic tales of terror and the supernatural, which rely a great deal on scene and setting to convey a sense of horror to the reader. The Gothic story came into being in the year 1764, with the publishing of The Castle of Otranto, A Gothic Story, by the British author Horace Walpole, who "started the genre, supplied its name, and established its favorite trappings" (Kennedy 176). The crumbling castle or shadowy mansion, as well as the dark and stormy night, are typical elements of the Gothic tale. This paper will compare two short stories in the Gothic style by Edgar Allen Poe, namely "The Fall of the House of Usher," and "Ligeia," in terms of such elements as setting, characters and the idea of life after death. It will be seen that by utilizing Gothic elements in these two works, Poe creates a sense of the ghostly and supernatural within the mind of the reader.
The most characteristic elements of the Gothic story relate to setting. X. J. Kennedy has noted that "atmosphere is essential to a Gothic story: dusty halls, shadowy landscapes, whispering servants" (Kennedy 176). In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe begins the tale with atmospheric description to set the mood. Levin has noted that in this story in particular, Poe is "afforded his best opportunity for an atmospheric presentation, in which scenic detail is artfully confounded with emotional reaction" (Levin 159). The narrator tells of his solitary journey on horseback "through a singularly dreary tract of country," on a "dull, dark, and soundless day" in autumn (Poe 54). When he first sees the House of Usher, with its "bleak walls" and "vacant eye-like windows," he feels a "sense of insufferable gloom" (Poe 54). These atmospheric elements are further heightened by the sense of remoteness and isolation, as well as the indefinitene...