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In the early 19th century, gothic had risen in America, introducing a new genre of
literature that combines the gothic with American ideals. Both gothic and American gothic
literature adopts elements of trepidation, grotesque, mystery, violence, fear and supernatural.
American Gothic tales generally differ in settings as the American landscape had few ancient
buildings like castles, as such; American writers used the wilderness, forest or vast land as
backdrop of the story. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathan Hawthorne are the most prominent writers
of the American gothic fiction. Their writings primarily explore American fears, hopes and
anxieties in gothic mode. Although Poe and Hawthorne used similar gothic elements and
literary techniques to build up sense of impending doom, despair, suspense and fear, their
approaches to these aspects differ.
Poe follows many traditions of Gothic fiction including the setting of a gloomy and
frightening castle with weird and terrifying events as an element to create feeling of darkness,
doom and fear; whereas Hawthorne detaches his fiction from typical gothic setting and
replaces with a village and church with to echo the Puritan fear that hunts its characters. The
psychological exploration of the theme of sin, repentance, and morality exerts an eerie mood.
Themes of “The Masque of the Red Death” personify implication of death, including
both physical and mental signs of 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. Prince
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Prospero symbolizes prosperity, wealth, and success. This character represents mankind and
its inability to deal with the realities of death. Compare with “The Minister’s Black Veil,” the
black veil is a parable for sin and morality, inferring everyone share sin and they cannot
escape from what they have done because judgment will come for everyone. Hawthorne
focuses his horror on the human heart and its potential for evil under various conditions. The
black veil radiates a dark and almost sinful mood. Every villager is disturbed and frightened
by 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. It can be interpreted that the townspeople fear the veil as it pointed to their own
hidden sin, unsure of their own salvation, and this produced feeling of unease. Although Mr.
Hooper’s fiancée had asked him to take of the veil, his refusal caused his fiancée to break the
engagement and leave. The veil had separated him from the relationship between his closet
relative and woman’s love. Nathaniel Hawthorne used these examples to reiterate the theme
in the story, which is people are born with sin and all people sin and it is up to them whether
they face their sin or ignore it.
Both Poe and Hawthorne make use of symbolism in their works. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The
Mask of the Red Death,” is often analyzed as an allegory about man’s futile attempts to stave
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off death. To create the mood, multiple symbols are used in the development of story: the
seven rooms in the castle, color of the seventh room, the gigantic clock of ebony, and the
figure. The rooms can be interpreted as seven stages of life and seven deadly sins. The color
of rooms may be representative of the life cycle. Also, the imagery of blood and time
throughout indicate death is approaching. The seventh room is a connection that leads the
reader to the next symbol, which is the gigantic clock. The ebony clock symbolizes a constant
reality check that awakes everyone from the superficial joyful status. In the end of the story,
the arrival of the figure reminds the reader the theme, we cannot escape death.
The other story “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Hawthorne uses the veil as a representation
of “secret sin” and the inherent sinful nature of all people. The main theme surrounds the
stubborn use of the veil as a parable that suggests everyone is born with sin, guilt, and evil,
reflecting the darker side of individualism and the social attitudes and Puritan beliefs of the
time. The tone is dark, gloomy, suspenseful and eerie until the end.
Mood:
The mood of the “The Masque of the Red Death” is a mixture of light-heartedness,
suspension, hopelessness, sadness, despair and terror. The story takes place at the castellated
abbey of the “happy and dauntless and sagacious” Prince Prospero. The masquerade party for
creates a delusion of safety and happiness. Inside the abbey, the nobles take refuge from the
Red Death by hiding behind the luxury and safety of the secured walls. They are indifferent
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of the sufferings of the lower class population outside of the abbey. The abbey can be viewed
as a fortress from death. By fortifying the castle, Prince Prospero thinks he can cheat death
and prevent mortality. In contrast, the citizens outside of the castle are full of grief, despair
and futility. Horror is introduced when the clock strikes. It shifts the mood from
light-heartedness to fear. The clock’s chime brings anxiety, irritation to the crowd as the
shockingly loud chime reminds the guests of the passage of time and the constant threat of
Red Death. Death can strike at any time and coming to all. Black room with “panes were
scarlet - a deep blood color” widely emphasized the eerie, mysterious and horrifying gothic
moods that frightens the guests, creating a strong psychological horror. 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. His appearance strikes a note of "terror, of horror, and of
disgust." The figure is "shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave."
His
mask is made from corpses died from the Red Death and to create more horror, his entire
outfit is sprinkled with blood and "all the features of the face were besprinkled with the
scarlet horror." The words used to describe the masked intruder effectively cast an intense
fear of death.
In contrast, Hawthorne depicts gothic moods in a different light. The entire story is filled
with dreadful suspicion and suspense. The mood suspense and mystery is introduced when
Mr. Hooper comes in wearing a black veil. This creates a stir among the townspeople, who
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start to speculate about his veil and its significance. Later in the story, the townspeople are
uncomfortable with the veil because it infers that everyone has some form of hidden guilt.
Hawthorne develops the mood by emphasizing the theme that people are born with sin,
through the main character Mr. Hooper.
The writings of Poe and Hawthorne endeavored to examine the conflict of dark struggles
between characters and society, between good and evil, the psychological effects of guilt and
sin, the supernatural influence, and moral truths. Both writers used imagery to develop the
eerie, horror mood prevalent in their fictions and allow the readers have a more vivid picture
in their minds when reading.
Readers in that era generally see these kinds of work intensively gloomy and pessimistic
as they reflect the darker side of humanity and further question human connection to self and
to God and Devil. As readers develop a better understanding of Gothic fiction, they have
learned to appreciate this literature genre.