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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In four pages this paper analyzes these short stories in terms of the Gothic and symbolism featured within each. Four sources are listed in the bibliography.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGpoefaulk.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
in England. From there, the roots extended to the American colonies, and by the mid-nineteenth century had been firmly implanted in the land of Uncle Sam. As a
fictional genre, Gothicism typically combined romance with horror. It also, however, served as a powerful backdrop for the social commentary for a particular time. Conveyed descriptively through symbolism
that was carefully constructed by the authors to heighten emotion, Gothicism has become synonymous with death - the physical death of a character or characters and the cultural death of
a particular era. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) and William Faulkner (1897-1962) were masters of Gothicism and symbolism as their respective short stories "Ligeia" (1838) and "A Rose for Emily"
(1930) clearly illustrate. In each tale, the authors employed Gothicism that focused upon a house, which was a symbol in itself that was characterized by the decay of impending
death (Fisher 75). This decay also symbolized some type of amoral sexual relationship or perversion. Edgar Allan Poes works have become the standard by which all American Gothic texts
are measured. In "Ligeia," and throughout the course of the story, the house is transformed through gradual deterioration of inhabitants and structure - into a "setting conducive to unrest
and fears" (Fisher 75). The narrator reveals that his grief over his wife Ligeias death prompted him to relocate when he "could no longer endure the lonely desolation of
my dwelling in the dim and decaying city by the Rhine" (Poe 1503). Decay is the symbolism suggesting death that Poe features throughout his setting descriptions in the story.
Finally, after months of wandering the English countryside, Ligeias widower settles into an abbey (house), attracted by "the gloomy and dreary grandeur of the building, the almost savage aspect
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