Gothicism began as ôa type of imitation medievalism,ö using medieval effects such as ôsubterranean dungeons, secret passageways, flickering lamps, screams, moans, bloody hands, ghosts, graveyards,ö and other emblems of dark, mysterious evil as its texture (ôLiterary Gothicism: Overviewö). Gothic literature was terrifying and horrific in a mysterious way, tainted with the macabre and infused with the supernatural. It was especially covered in a kind of darkness that conveyed the terror of encountering pure evil. Gothicism was primarily about atmosphere, an atmosphere that was designed to bring about profound fear and an expectancy that something evil was about to take place. In many cases, there is a suggestion of insanity regarding the narrator or the main character, intended to convey the impression that the individual is capable of anything because of being released from the constraints of reason and morality.
Gothicism began in the early 1700Æs with The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole and is still in existence today, but it has evolved during that time into a somewhat different form (ôGothic Novelö). In the 1800Æs, Edgar Allen Poe introduced the gothic short story, or horror story, that produced terror not just through atmosphere but through a psychological framework designed to inspire fear. In ôThe Tell-Tale Heart,ö for example, he used the device of the victimÆs dull blue eye as the catalyst for murder, couching his descriptions in such a way that the reader understood that the reason the murderer could not stand the sight of the eye was because he was insane. The beating of the victimÆs heart, which the murderer heardùor thought he heardùsuggests terror. At the end, when he thinks he hears the murdered manÆs heart beating again, there is an implication that he is either imagining it or hearing the beat of his own heart, which is beating rapidly because of his terror.
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