Suspense Related to the Death of Beauty in Edgar Poe’s Short Stories.doc

毕业论文（设计）Suspense Related to the Death of Beauty in Edgar Poes Short StoriesCase-study of “Ligeia” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”Suspense Related to the Death of Beauty in Edgar Poes Short Stories1Case-study of “Ligeia” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”11. Introduction12. Suspense in Literature22.1. The Stories of Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher42.2. Suspense and Gothic Romanticism52.2.1. Introduction to Traditional Gothic Romanticism52.2.2. Poe and Traditional Gothic Romanticism62.2.2.1. Poes Gothic Romanticism132.3. Suspense and the Narrators Point of View152.3.1. Definitions of the Narrator and the Point of View152.3.2. The Differences between the Two Kinds of Narrators and the Narrators Points of View162.3.3. Presentation of Poes Narrator Point of View in Stories172.4. Suspense and Other Factors202.4.1. Environmental Descriptions202.4.2. Quotations213. Conclusion23NOTES261. IntroductionEdgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), the famous American poet, short story writer, and a critic, is one of the greatest figures in 19th century American literature. Being in poverty in his whole life, he wrote many sentimental poems in beautiful melody, expressing his melancholy in The Raven, Annabel Lee, To Helen or Ulalume. He was a creative short story writer. People consider him as “the father of the detective story”. Meanwhile, his horror and crime short stories are famous. Ligeia shows us the power of the supernatural; in The Fall of the House of Usher, everything is going to be mad; The Black Cat reveals the dark side of human mind; The Murders in the Rue Morgue is the representations of Dupins wisdom, etc. No matter what theme Poe wrote on in his short stories, Gothic Romanticism is their great feature because Poe lived in the age of American Romanticism; and Poe combined the traditional Gothic with his descriptions of human psyche. Poe is an expert in writing short stories with suspense, and formulated his own principle of writing, which is applied to most of his short stories. We can see that he conveys “the unity of effect” in The Masque of the Red Death, William Wilson and so on. In his philosophy of composition, “the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world”(Edgar Allan Poe, 2004: 135). With this eccentric and morbid theme, he wrote two interrelated famous short storiesLigeia and The Fall of the House of Usherin which death of beauty is depicted with techniques of expression. One of them is suspense. For this reason, this thesis will focus on suspense in these two short stories, showing how suspense is reflected by following factors: the stories, Gothic Romanticism, narrators point of view, environmental descriptions and quotations.2. Suspense in LiteratureReferring to suspense, the dictionary has such explanations below:“1. A state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety.2. A state of mental indecision.3. Undecided or doubtful condition.4. The state or condition of being suspended.” (Net.3.)However, when it is put in literature, the meaning is slight different, as it is explained in A Glossary of Literary Terms: “As a plot evolves it arouses expectations in the audience or reader about the future course of events and actions and how characters will respond to them. A lack of certainty, on the part of a concerned reader, about what is going to happen, especially to characters with whom the reader has established a bond of sympathy, is known as suspense” (M.H. Abrams, 2004: 225).This definition tells us clearly that suspense is always related to a plot in a story. Its uncertainty in readers minds. In this way, authors achieve their purpose for “keeping the reader wanting to read more.” “In some stories, the reader may guess the conclusion before they even finish reading the introduction, but when authors add suspense into their master pieces, the stories become far more interesting and keeps the reader wondering whether if the conclusion of the story would end like they thought it could, and therefore keeps the reader wanting to read more” (Net.5.).28Thus, whether a story is good or bad depends on its suspense, no matter its a story of horror, or a story of tender affection. Even its a love story, there must be suspense about the end; otherwise the story is insipid to readers because they have known the conclusion in the progress of reading.Being a penniless writer, Poe certainly hoped that his short stories would bring him any financial support, especially when “he foresaw that he could not gain sufficient financial recompense from that genre (poem) to maintain himself” (Kevin J. Hayes, 2004: 78). As a result, his stories must be very attractive so that readers cant stop reading until they came to the end.Thats a main reason for Poes using suspense repeatedly.Poe is an expert in suspense, who takes great advantages of some factors to form suspense. Lets take the examples of Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher.2.1. The Stories of Ligeia and The Fall of the House of UsherThese two short stories never escaped peoples attention and they are mentioned in any introduction of Poes works. People read them again and again for leisure, or their study of Poe. These two stories were filmed. As a story of suspense, the weird and horror theme is essential.In the story of Ligeia, the heroine is a beautiful, perfect woman with profound knowledge and extensive learning. She died later, but succeeded in stealing her husbands second wifes body to return from the grave. In the story of The Fall of the House of Usher, the plot is similar. A person was invited to his old good friend Usher Rodericks house in order to relief his friends illness. He met Lady Madeline, who was Ushers sister and behaved like a ghost. She got the same illness as that of Usher. Soon, she died, and Usher fell into deep depression. One night, his sister came out from her coffin, and fell upon her brother to make him die. Then, the house of Usher fell down under “the blood-red moon” (Usher, 211).Both of them are stories on reviving after death, which seldom or never happen in reality. This is a point that should be noticed, since unusual things can easily arouse readers curiosity and eagerness for reading. Therefore, suspense is combined with the story to seize readers minds.2.2. Suspense and Gothic RomanticismPoe belongs to the time of American Romanticism when British Romanticism influenced America (since the 1820s) (Xiao Minghan, 2001:8). Hence, when referring to suspense in Poes stories, Gothic Romanticism cant be overlooked. 2.2.1. Introduction to Traditional Gothic RomanticismThe word “Gothic” came from a tribe of Goths which were from northern Germanic Europe and destroyed the mighty West Rome Empire in 5 A.D. The tribe disappeared in 7 A.D, but the word “Gothic” was linked with horror, savageness, mystery, darkness and so on. The Italian architect and painter Vasari (1511-1574) had used the word to describe the medieval architecture. Between the 12th Century and the 16th Century, the Gothic style in architecture was prevailing in Europe. Notre Dame de Paris, Westminster Abbey in London and Cologne Cathedral are the primary representatives of Gothic architecture with “towering spires”, “narrow windows”, “stained glass” and so on (Xiao Minghan, 2001: 2). Gothic building is always with vaulted (pointed) arches within and huge “flying buttresses” and is vast; a sense of considerable shadowiness or obscurity is inescapable when one enters Gothic buildings or their cloisters (Kevin J. Hayes, 2004:73). In the late 18th century, the word “Gothic” was related to a new genre of story. Horace Walpole was the first person who wrote a Gothic story The Castle of Ontranto in 1764. Then Gothic plots were popular with the British writers: Matthew Lewis (The Monk), Ann Radcliff (The Mysteries of Udolpho), and Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights). Even in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre, there are some Gothic elements such as the episodes related to Rochesters wife. From then on, Gothic stories gradually occupied the literature of Britain and then America and Germany (Xiao Minghan, 2001:2).2.2.2. Poe and Traditional Gothic RomanticismPoe wasnt an Englishman, but he had lived in London for some time since he was 6 years old. That time was the British Romanticism epoch. Poe naturally had a chance to get in touch with British Romanticism, and was deeply influenced. As it is pointed out by Benjamin F. Fisher in Poe and the Gothic Tradition:Poe had made “the poems of Byron, Shelly, and Coleridge as his own poetic models” (Kevin J. Hayes, 2004:78). Not only in poems, but also in stories which suggest Poes modification of traditional Gothic Romanticism.In Ligeia, Poe has mentioned the ceiling of a new room where Ligeias husband moved to, which was “with the wildest and most grotesque specimens of a semi-Gothic, semi-druidical device” (Ligeia, 16). In The Fall of the House of Usher, the hero Roderick Usher was particularly interested in a book: “An exceedingly rare and curious book in quarto Gothic-the manual of a forgotten church- the Vigilae Mortuorum secundum Chorum Ecclesiae Maguntinae” (Usher, 196).The word “Gothic” is often used in Poes stories as I showed above. It is the visible evidence that Poe was influenced by traditional Gothic Romanticism in his stories. We should especially pay attention to the title of the book which was Ushers favourite. It was quite long and odd, and the book was “the manual of a forgotten church”. In traditional Gothic Romanticism, a church often had something to do with the Gothic. We can see an example of it in Matthew Lewiss famous novel The Monk, in which events happened in a church or a cloister.In many Gothic stories, the background is decaying castles, ruins or bleak places (Xiao Minghan, 2001: 2). For example, the story of Wuthering Heights happened near a bleak moor. We know that in their childhood, Heathcliff had to suffer a flogging or thrashing and Catherine had to suffer the monotonous and strict discipline from the curate. Then they often “ran away to the moors in the morning and remained there all day” (Emily Bronte, 50). At the end of the novel, Heathcliff and Catherine reunited again, but in the appearance of ghosts. That place of their appearance was moors too (Emily Bronte, 382). In Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher, Gothic places are common too. For instance, when Ligeias husband recollected where he saw Ligeia, he described the place as “some large, old, decaying city near the Rhine” (Ligeia, 2). After Ligeias death, he moved to “an abbey”, which he didnt name and was “in one of the wildest and least frequented portions of fair England” (Ligeia, 13-4). Through his descriptions, readers will find an interesting and abnormal thing: the narrator seems to have his memories lost to cover some details. Usually, people will not forget the exact place where they met their first love. It would be wonderful and unforgettable to meet Ligeia, who was such a beautiful and impressive woman, in a special place. As a result, its impossible for the narrator to forget the name of that city. However, we dont know more details but “some large, old, decaying city near the Rhine”. Isnt it a strange thing? That he moved to “an abbey” is unusual too. Normally, a person of bereavement would not be sad to live in an abbey which was “one of the wildest and least frequented portions”; and the site, where the abbey was set, was “England” where an abbey was a commonplace. Furthermore, the narrator didnt name the abbey. As a result, the places were mysterious and bewildering to readers.In The Fall of the House of Usher, when the narrator was on his way to Ushers house, he was “through a singularly dreary tract of country” (Usher, 175). The countryside nearby the house of Usher is characterized by word “singularly dreary” and it tells us the place was very secluded and was a wasteland. We also dont know where the country laid.These are the presentations of obscure Gothic places. They were deserted and mysterious. All details were intentionally ignored by Poe.Also, readers can found out the features of Gothic architecture in them. There was a huge room both in Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher. The room of the abbey was “of capacious size”. “Occupying the whole southern face of the pentagon (the room) was the sole windowan immense sheet of unbroken glass from Venicea single pane, and tinted of a leaden hue, so that the rays of either the sun or moon, passing through it, fell with a ghastly luster upon the objects within The lofty wallsgigantic in heighteven unproportionally so, were hung from summit to foot, in vast folds with a heavy and massy looking tapestry” (Ligeia, 15-6).In Usher, “I” (Ushers friend) was led by his servant to a room. “The room in which I found myself was very large and excessively lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trelliced panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around; the eye, however, struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling. Dark draperies hung upon the walls” (Usher, 182).These two rooms are with the features typical for Gothic architecture. As it has been mentioned in the introduction to traditional Gothic Romanticism, a Gothic building is always with “towering spires”, “narrow windows”, “stained glass”, “dark inside”, “vaulted (pointed) arches”, and “huge flying buttresses”. There is much “shadowiness or obscurity” in it. Hence, its not difficult to find out these features in the two rooms in the stories. For example, the room in Ligeia was “of capacious size”, and the one in Usher “was very large and excessively lofty”; the windows in Ligeia was “tinted of a leaden hue”, while the windows in Usher were “long, narrow, and pointed”, and was hard to reach because it was “so vast”; the room in Ligeia was with the walls which were “gigantic in height” and “in vast folds with a heavy and massy looking tapestry”, while in Usher, “dark draperies hung upon the walls”. Furthermore, Poe depicted the light in the two rooms to show how dim they were: “the rays of either the sun or moon, passing through it (the window), fell with a ghastly lustre upon the objects within” (Ligeia); “feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trelliced panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around, but the eye was hard to reach the remoter angles of the chamber and the vaulted and fretted ceiling” (Usher). No doubt, these descriptions are embellishments of environment and are necessary to emphasize Gothic horror.Apart from Gothic architecture, “time” is a noticeable feature in Gothic stories. The time of Gothic stories is usually arranged in the past, especially in the medieval time (Xiao Minghan, 2001:2). One of Poes short storiesThe Masque of the Red Deathwas put in the medieval time. In Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher, the time setting isnt very clear. We wont know the accurate time when the stories happened, but we know one thing that they were told in narrators memory. For example, in Ligeia, the narrator used such sentences to begin the story:“I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia. Long years have since elapsed, and my memory is feeble through much suffering” (Ligeia, 1). In the narrators statements, “remember”, “long years have since elapsed”, and “my memory” are the key words and sentence to hint that the story had happened in the past.In The Fall of the House of Usher, the narrator mentioned an unclear time at the beginning:“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year” (Usher, 175). “The year” isnt a clear time. Readers dont know which year “the year” refers to. Is it this year or the last year? Theres no answer to it. So this is also enough to hint to us that the story took place in the past.Continually, Ligeias husband gave a clue for several times that he told the story from his memory. For example, “And now, while I write, a recollection flashes upon me” (Ligeia, 2). “There is not any individual portion of the architecture and decoration of that bridal chamber which is not now visibly before me” (Ligeia, 15). Judging from “now”, “recollection” and “not now visibly before me”, its obvious that the narrator had experienced the vital events in his life.Even in The Fall of the House of Usher, the narrator emphasized that the story happened in the past when referring to Ushers paintings:“From the paintings over which his elaborate fancy brooded, and which grew, touch by touch, into vaguenesses at which I shuddered the more thrillingly, because I shuddered knowing not, why from these paintings (vivid as their images now are before me) I would in vain endeavor to educe more than a small portion which should lie within the compass of merely written words” (Usher, 189-190). The sentence in the bracket is good evidence of that the story relates to the past.Gothic stories are often filled with the theme of violence, murder, revenge, sometimes supernatural power (Xiao Minghan, 2001:2). In the two stories, the returning of the death is the representative of supernatural power. Ligeia came to be alive for showing her strong will, while Lady Madeline for her escaping from the coffin and dying with her brother. Meanwhile, death of beauty is P