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Gothic literature or literary pieces that consist of Gothic elements have been popular since the 18th century. One factor that contributes to this genre being popular is based on the fact that they convey deeper meanings. Gothic literature provides common themes such as death and decay and/or good vs evil. In addition, people love to be scared which relates to terror and horror is one of the most important elements in Gothic literature. The terror is what an individual might endure while the horror is the circumstance or the object itself.
The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” opens up with the narrator expressing her amazement at the mansion she and her husband get to stay in during their summer vacation. Her life seems glamorous and elegant since the narrator is married to a doctor and spends practically all her time in a glorious mansion. Although this is not the case for our narrator because the perception that is portrayed in this story is far from reality because she is imprisoned within her house, marriage, social order, and herself.
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The story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a third-person narration but still plays a huge part in the terror an individual might face leading up to the horror of death. Although the main character Farquhar didn’t live to tell his tale his story still relays a fearful experience to the readers. I believe the stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce are pieces of literature that add terror, horror, and overall fear through narration.
In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator is a woman that describes her battles with mental illness and her husband’s unethical ways to solve them.
“She is thought to have a nervous condition and is permitted no activity, including writing, lest it tires her” (Yuen). The narrator now on rest per doctor’s orders slowly drives her insane. Not listening to her husband the narrator hides a diary to continue writing. He won’t listen to his wife and what she has to say regarding her worries and concerns because what he says goes. She wants the bedroom downstairs but settles in the upstairs bedroom because of the reasons her husband gives: there’s only one window, not enough room for two beds, and no near room for him to take another bed (Gilman). “The paint and paper look as if a boys’ school had used it. It is stripped off—the paper—in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and is a great place on the other side of the room low down. I never saw a worse paper in my life” (Gilman). She becomes obsessed with this ugly wallpaper which makes the readers question why she is so infatuated by the design. She sees herself in this wallpaper since it represents instability. Like the painting that’s trapped on the wall, she is trapped within herself. Soon becoming consumed by the design she insists that she and her husband go outside, but he suggests that they not. The horror she faces is herself and her mental instability which worsens as the story continues. “I’ve got out at last,” said I, “despite you and Jane! And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gilman). The ripping of the wallpaper is the most symbolic piece of the story since now she feels free: free of herself, her house, and her marriage. The narration of this story is very personal and expresses to the readers what she experienced firsthand. Her madness got worse over time because her husband believed he knew best rather than her own self. The terror and horror in this story are something that many women have faced: the lack of feminism and the taboo topic of mental illness. She wanted her reality to be something else to stop the turmoil she faced, which is why she projected all her problems onto the yellow wallpaper.
The story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” starts with the narrator describing all the thoughts and emotions Farquhar is feeling. “This perspective often called limited omniscience features a third-person narrator who tells the story as an observer offstage” (Samide). It’s currently 1861-1865 during the Civil War between the south and the north, and anyone caught inferring with the Northern placement around the Owl Creek Bridge would be sentenced to hanging. Although, this doesn’t stop Farquhar who is a planter from the south to come up with a plot to burn down the bridge. “The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck” (Bierce). This is when the narrator first expresses the terror Farquhar is facing: death. Along with the horror of the rope wrapped against his neck knowing what was about to come. The readers can sympathize with the main character and what he wants more than anything: to go home to his family. This man clouded by death goes in and out of reality losing the true perception of things. “Farquhar thinks of his wife and children and considers possibilities of escape” (Samide). He sees his beautiful wife in distance and reaches out to embrace her until he experiences a horrendous pain around his neck (Bierce). “There is no way we can know his escape is unreal until the last line of the story, when the narrator emerges from Farquhar's mind to tell us he is dead” (Samide). Bierce does tease the readers a little bit by going back and forth on events making it unclear what truly happened to Farquhar, until the very end when reality strikes leaving his body hanging under the bridge. Bierce’s narration is very important to the story because it shows no bias and gives the readers informed of what the main character is going through emotionally and physically.
Both of these stories represent terror and horror in their own situations that affect the readers. Although these stories convey different themes and styles of narration the terror and horror they provide are similar and make the terror and horror come to life.
Gothic Elements In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge. (2024, Feb 03). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/gothic-elements-in-an-occurrence-at-owl-creek-bridge-essay
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