##arison Of Gothic Fiction In Young Goodman Brown And The...

Becoming popular in the 19th century, Gothic fiction has been defined by such works as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Horror, death, supernatural events, the grotesque, the dark, and sometimes even the romantic are key characteristics of the Gothic genre. There are the obviously Gothic stories of Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe but also the less recognizable Gothic stories such as A Clean Well-Lighted Place written by Ernest Hemingway. These three stories take different approaches on what makes them at heart a true Gothic story. Diction plays an important role in making each story seem Gothic. The word choice of each respective author elicits feelings of†¦show more content†¦As in the other two stories, the reader is also presented with the words â€Å"suicide† (152), â€Å"fear† (153, 154), â€Å"killed† (152), and â€Å"nothing† (155) these words create a similar tone in this work to the other two stories by Poe and Hawthorne. By choosing words with a generally negative or haunting connotation, all three authors effectively make their respective stories Gothic, by embracing a horrifying, mysterious motifs. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place could be considered a Gothic work because underneath the surface layer of the story there are common Gothic motifs prevalent throughout the entire story. The motif of death is the most obvious one on the story, the old man attempting to commit suicide yet being found and saved by his niece. His niece being the one who finds the old man trying to kill himself adds to the combined motif of loneliness and despair which is also common in Gothic works. It contributes to loneliness and despair by showing to the reader that the old man has now immediate family or no close relationships with any one. The old man must live alone and that could be what has driven him to want to finally commit suicide. Despair is born of loneliness and because of his despair the old man finds comfort in being in the cafà © because in the cafà © are people, the waiters, who are obligated to interact with him. Hemingway intends for the reader to feel gloomy and to pity the old man and the quality of life he has been forced to accept due to his loneliness.