Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Symbolism and Gothicism in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Ligeia” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In four pages this paper compares and contrasts each short story’s uses of symbolism and Gothicism. Four sources are listed in the bibliography.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGligrose.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
printed page into a canvas upon which vivid word pictures can be painted. Symbolism can be used to seduce or to frighten, depending upon the authors intent. Gothicism,
which began as a Swedish cultural movement and became a popular component in the Romantic literature of the nineteenth century, often employed symbolism as a way of injecting horror or
the grotesque into the narrative. Since there is nothing more terrifying in the human experience than dying and death, these are the most prominent symbolic references in most Gothic
stories. In the gothic Romantic genre, the focal point is usually a female heroine who is ravaged by the dominant other, which can be either a male character or
"the community at large" (Donaldson 1997, p. 567). The masterful uses of symbolism within Gothic settings are readily apparent in Edgar Allan Poes nineteenth-century tale "Ligeia" and in William
Faulkners twentieth-century Southern Gothic short story "A Rose for Emily." There is no American author more closely associated with Gothicism than Edgar Allan Poe. "Ligeia" features Poes "stock... Gothic
plot" elements of the supernatural, a lady of mystery, and a narrator whose trustworthiness is brought into question (Frank 2002, p. 337). Are the descriptions of the narrator reliable
or do they represent hallucinations brought on by a deteriorating mental state? In Poes classic Gothic story "Ligeia," the narrator cannot even recall "how, when, or even precisely where"
he first met the femme fatale who would forever remain the object of his affection and obsession (Poe 1998, p. 1499). The storys symbolism focuses on the narrators morbid
and almost clinical fascination with her beauty and how it declined as illness overtook her. The frequent reference to the word pale symbolizes the decay of Ligeias body and
...