I. Dark Romantics- Poe and Hawthorne Short Stories Test
A. Edgar A. Poe
1. Gothic Genre
a. Elements of the Macabre- having to do with death or
the possibility of death.
b. Setting is Exotic- outside of the everyday and the
commonplace.
c. Element(s) of the Supernatural- magic, ghosts, E.S.P.,
the undead, reincarnation, prophecy, etc.
Examples of Gothic Stories
a. Fall of the House of Usher
1. Characters- Roderick, Madeline, the Narrator
2. Plot- A friend, the narrator, comes to visit his
boyhood friend, Roderick Usher, because he is not
feeling well. He hopes to cheer him up.
- Roderick is overly sensitive to stimulus and can’t
stand rough fabric, spicy food, loud noises or bright
lights.
- His sister is overwhelmed with the same problem
and suffers from cataleptic fits (seizures) followed
by temporary coma-like symptoms
-There has always been one generation of Usher
living throughout the “ancient clan’s” history. There
is a direct line from one generation to the next with
no branches extending off from the family tree.
-The sister falls into to coma-like states and is
thought to be dead; The Narrator and Roderick place
her in a temporary tomb under the house. Roderick
is afraid that doctors will disturb her corpse and
study it because of her strange malady.
-Roderick plays guitar and the narrator reads him
stories to try to cheer him up- it doesn’t work.
-One night the narrator can’t sleep; he finds
Roderick and he reads a story to pass the time.
-The house seems to react to the actions within the
story and those of the characters.
-A strange glowing gas envelopes the house and it
begins to shake, crumble and fall into the
surrounding swamp.
- Madeline shows up with bloody fingers and hands,
from trying to escape her tomb, and attacks
Roderick. He dies from fright and she dies as well.
-The narrator realizes that they were twins.
-The narrator is able to escape the house just as it is
crashing down around him.
-The house sinks into the swamp surrounding the
house with the ushers within it.
b. Masque of the Red Death
1. The Setting- Place-A castle, with a prince and
royal subjects. Time- It was a long time ago, most
likely Medieval Europe.
2. Characters- Prince Prospero and one-thousand
healthy nobles are called into one of his castles; they
bolt the doors and weld the locks shut to keep them
safe from the red death.
3.Plot- The revelers have a masquerade ball to help
forget about their troubles and the scourge of the red
death- a disease that kills the individual within a half
an hour of the onset of the sickness. The sufferer
starts off with a severe fever and convulsions; then
begins to bleed out of the pours of their face, and
eventually bleeds to death.
5. The hall has seven suites separated by different
colored doors- blue, purple, white, orange, green,
violet and black and red- there is a giant ebony clock
that sits in the final room.
6. When the clock rings every hour, all of the partygoers stop and listen. They are reminded that time
continues regardless of their actions and precautions.
7. A figure appears at midnight dressed as the red
death; people are appalled and scurry to the edges of
the hall.
8. Prince Prospero draws his dagger and chases after
the masked figure and catches up to him in the black
and red room and dies when the figure turns and
confronts him.
9. All of the other party-goers also rush the intruder
and find that he is a ghost- they fall and die where
they stand in the black room.
10. Moral of the story- no one can escape death.
3.Examples of Horror / Psychological Stories
A. Elements of the Genre
-Narrator of the story seems to be insane.
-A Murder takes place within the story.
-The setting can be vague and could be anywhere
or in any town- adding to the horror of the story.
-The climax of the story tends to reveal hidden
information or “solve” the major problem/conflict
of the story.
B. Examples
1. The Black Cat
a. Characters- Narrator, his wife, Pluto the
cat.
b. Setting- could be any town.
c. Plot- The Narrator begins by describing
his personality as someone who is very caring and fond of
animals. He then slips into a terrible struggle with alcohol
which leaves him in a violent and petulant mood.
-He comes home drunk one night and attacks his cat b/c it bites him. He plucks out its eye with a pocket knife.
-He feels bad whenever he sees the cat; so he decides to
hang and kill the cat so that God will punish him for the
original evil deed. (not the way a sane person thinks)
-His house catches fire that night and everything is burned
down except one newly plastered wall with a strange “catlike” burn mark.
-He misses the black cat and searches for another in all of
his regular drinking spots- he finds one just like Pluto, the
large black cat with only one eye, except for the second cat
has a white splotch on its chest.
-The cat won’t leave him alone and causes him to hate it;
his wife loves it. He is frightened of it and that is why he
doesn’t kill it.
-It makes him fall down the stairs while he is getting
something in the cellar- he attacks the cat with an axe, but
his wife’s hand stops him.
-He kills his wife with the axe and walls her up in a false
chimney, then plasters the wall.
-The police show up on the fourth day- he bangs the wall
with a cane to show how great the homes walls were built
and then a terrible sound emanates from behind the wall.
-The police tear down the wall revealing the woman’s
corpse with the cat eating her brains to survive its
entombment.
2. A Cask of Amontillado
a. Characters- Narrator- Montressor;
Victim- Fortunado.
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b. Setting- 13 – 14th Century Italy- although it’s never
stated. (Gothic aspect)
c. Plot- Montressor has been insulted by Fortunado.
- His family Crest “No insult goes unpunished” and it’s
a snake biting a heel that is crushing it’s head.
-He tells his servants that he is going to “Carnival”, so
they take off. He knows no one will be home when he
returns.
-He finds Fortunado at the Carnival in an inebriated
condition and asks if he will sample his “Cask of
Amontillado” a very expensive and fine quality sherry.
-He uses flattery to entice him to try his cask of
amontillado; he wants to get his opinion because Fortunado
is a connoisseur of fine sherry.
-Fortunado also has a cough; Montressor says that his cask
is in his families catacombs and the cold and damp there is
not good for his cold.
-Fortunado insists that he go, saying that Luchese doesn’t
know amontillado from sherry. (Basically insulting him
again)
-They both travel through Montressor’s family’s catacombs
and drink along the way.
-Fortunado insults Montressor again by showing him a
secret “sign.”
-Fortunado says that Montressor doesn’t know what the
sign is because he’s not part of the secret society of the
“Masons.”
-Montressor replies that he is and shows him the trowel
blade; the real tool of the masons.
-M. then leads F. to the “cask”; in reality, and empty alcove
that is to be used as a tomb.
-Fortunado walks in and, in his drunken stupor, is
completely caught off guard while M. chains him to the
wall.
-Montressor uses the trowel blade, mortar and bricks to
wall Fortunado up; while he screams and begs for mercy.
3. The Tell-Tale Heart
a. Characters- Narrator, and the old man.
b. Setting- Vague, could be anywhere, anytime.
c. Plot- The Narrator is the caretaker of an old man.
-He says he actually likes the old man quite a bit; but his
cataract in his eye makes him hate the old man- it looks
like a vulture’s eye.
-He decides to kills the old man to be rid of the vulture eye.
-He systematically, over the course of a week, moves
closer and closer to the old man’s bed every night, ensuring
that the old man, who is blind, become acclimated to his
nightly intrusions.
-The Narrator also possesses a specially enhanced physical
ability- He can hear even the faintest sound.
-He finally kills the old man by smothering him with his
mattress and laying upon him; he listens for the old man’s
heart to stop.
-He removes the floorboards of the room and places the old
man’s body beneath- He feels very proud that he’s been
able to cover up the crime so well. He also carefully
removes all the blood.
-Then the police arrive at 4 in the morning; a neighbor had
made a report of a scream. The Narrator says that it was his
own scream because he had a nightmare and the old man is
out in the country visiting relatives.
-He becomes so confident that he places his own chair
directly above the old man’s corpse under the floor.
-As the police carry on pleasant and normal conversation;
the Narrator begins to hear the sound of, what he thinks, is
the old man’s heart.
-The heart’s beating is so loud to the Narrator that he
believes the police must hear it too and are actually
mocking him, as they continue with their conversation.
-In his torment, he jumps up, moves the chair, rips up the
floor-boards and reveals the old man’s body to the police.
B.
Nathanial Hawthorne
1.
Parable / Morality Tale- a short story teaches a lesson about
life or morality, ethics, etc.
2.
Elements of Hawthorne’s Parable / Morality Tale’s
a. Narrator is third-person omniscient (God-like perspective)
or a first person narrator with those same characteristics.
b. Symbolism- a physical object (concrete) represents
something abstract; an idea, concept, emotion.
c. Ambiguity- there are many possible interpretations of a
something and all may be valid.
3.
The Minister’s Black Veil
a. Characters- Mr. Hooper, the minister of the small
town. The other people of the town.
b. Setting- Any puritan New England town in the late
1600’s.
Plot- The minister decides to wear a black veil over his
face one day, and vows never to remove it.
-People are intrigued and afraid of the veil.
-Mr. Hooper’s sermons take on a more powerful
meaning because of his veil, even though he doesn’t
expend any more energy than normal when giving
them.
-Certain duties that he must carry out as the town
minister are appropriate for the veil, but others are
completely transformed for the worse.- The veil is
acceptable for a funeral but tends to make a wedding
much more somber than is appropriate.
-He asks that his wishes be granted and that the veil
remain on him even after death.
-Those who are attending to his body are unable to
abide by his wishes
-The veil is possibly supposed to represent the hidden
secret sins that we even try to keep from God.
-It could also represent the fact that human beings are
imperfect and driven by our nature to sin.
4.
Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment
a. Characters- Dr. Heidegger (Wisdom), Widow
Wycherley (Vanity), Col. Killigrew (Slave to Physical
Pleasure), Mr. Gascoigne (Politician/Power Hungry Liar),
Mr. Medbourne (Gambler/Speculator).
b. Setting- Dr. Heidegger’s office; complete with
skeleton, creepy faded picture of his dead fiancé, big,
black magic book and a bust of Hipocrates. On the table is
a vase with four Champaign glasses.
c. Plot- Dr. Heidegger has the “Water of life” and
allows the guests to drink it.
- They become young and act on all of their old
impulses and make all the same terrible mistakes besides
their age and knowledge.
-They knock the vase on the floor and all of the water of
life is gone.
-Rather than learn a lesson about age, they go out to find
the water of life in Florida.