In the early 19th century, a new subgenre of romanticism known as
gothic had risen in both America and Europe because transcendentalist
was too optimistic. American gothic literature usually filled with elements
of trepidation and supernatural in their works. Mood is an important
element to create the atmosphere of the story. Edgar Allan Poe is one of
the writers famous for his literary gothic works. His themes personify
pervasive implication of death, including both physical and mental signs
of death. In contrast, Nathaniel Hawthorne, another gothic writer, depicts
American gothic through a different light. His stories mostly describe
people who are born with sin, guilt, and evil. Although they use similar
gothic elements and literary techniques such as character traits and
imagery to portray fear that humans have in life, the development of
mood in the two stories “The Mask of the Red Death” and “The Minister’s
Black Veil” differ in regard to use of symbols and plot development.
Allen Edgar Poe’s “The Mask of the Red Death”, is a tale that
depicts man’s innate fear of death.
In the story, three symbols have
been used to represent the fear of death: the seventh room in the castle,
the gigantic clock of ebony, and the masqueraders. The colored seven
rooms represent different stages of life. From white to “a deep blood
color” in the seventh room, the author associates different color with
course of life, with white representing birth and blood being the symbol
of death. Furthermore, the author describes the seventh room with “the
blood-tinted panes” creates an eerie mood, which magnifies the intensity
of fear of red death. The seventh room is a connection that leads the
reader to the next symbol of clock. The ebony clock symbolizes a
constant reminder of death, a reality check that awakes everyone from
the seemingly joyful status. The clock in the story emphasizes the mood
of suspense. Also, it symbolizes that time still flows, and the partygoers
can’t escape from the disease. Toward the end of the story, a moribund
new guest with his face masked appears in the middle of the party and
killed everyone in the castle. The figure’s arrival at the party shows that
no one is able to escape from the threat of red death, not even the most
affluent, such as Prince Prospero himself. These three major objects
build up the spine-chilling mood in the story by restating the theme, we
death is inevitable.
“The Minister’s Black Veil” is also another literature masterpiece that
represents American gothic. The story examines the dark side of human
fear. Hawthorne uses a plethora of examples to illustrate the mood of
sinister. He develops the theme, which is people are born with sin,
through the main character Mr. Hooper. The black veil on Mr. Hooper’s
face symbolizes the hidden sin. Every villager was afraid of the black veil
on Mr. Hooper’s face. For instance, “He has changed himself into
something awful only by hiding his face” and “Our parson is going mad”
show that everyone is unfamiliar with the black veil and started to have
ambiguous feeling to Mr. Hooper. In the middle of the story, the villagers
even feel bewildered about the black veil and belittle Mr. Hooper. One
villager said, “ there is nothing terrible in this piece of crape”. Also, Mr.
Hooper’s fiancée had asked him to take of the veil once, but he refused,
and caused his fiancée to leave him alone. This shows that the veil even
influence the relationship between his closet relative. Nathaniel
Hawthorne used these examples to reiterate the theme in the story,
which is people are born with evil. Furthermore, to emphasize the creepy
mood that is created in the story.
Both of the short stories used imagery to develop the eerie mood. In
“ The Mask of the Red Death”, the red death had been personified to
create an image of the disease. “ The figure was tall and gaunt, and
shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave” give us a
concept about what does the figure look like. In another short story “The
Minister’s Black Veil”, the black veil embodies the sin and let people
know that they cannot hide their sins. These two authors have used
imagery and let the readers have a more vivid picture in their minds
when reading.
Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were born in the same
time period. Their works primarily describe the fear of death. People at
that time mostly think these kinds of works are unnerving and creepy.
But people have gradually accepted this literature genre.