The Power of Architecture and Location in the Gothic Fiction Works - Essay Example

An Analysis of the Power of Architecture and Location in the Gothic Fiction Works ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ E. A. Poe, 1840 and ‘The Rats in the Walls’, H. P. Lovecraft, 1923: How these Factors Impact on the Reader. This essay will compare and contrast ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (Poe 1840) and ‘The Rats in the Walls’ (Lovecraft 1923), examining how architectural space and environment impact on the narrative and reader, and the possible psychological reasons for these responses. Other relevant works will be cited in support of the argument that the aesthetics of architecture and location are a major force in creating sensations of fear and psychological disturbance. In relation to architecture, it may be useful to define the concept of ‘Gothic’, which first belonged to the medieval period in Europe, from about 12th to 16th centuries. The characteristics included the pointed arch, large ribbed vaults and large, high windows, and later the flying buttress. The style was applied mainly to churches and cathedrals, therefore having religious and ecclesiastical connotations, though stately homes, convents and monasteries also adopted it. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, its revival coincided with the popularity of the Gothic genre in English fiction, often quoted as having originated with Horace Walpole’s ‘The Castle of Otranto’ (Walpole 1764). The underlying ethos seems to be one of highly charged emotional content, thrilling sensationalism and a rejection of the rational and classical clarity with determined the Enlightenment. Gothic fiction and architecture would seem to seek to extend beyond normal, rational boundaries in society and to find instead, a more exciting form of expression and stimulation – almost taking reader and characters to the brink of insanity through the alteration of perceived reality. Certainly, the Gothic literary conventions call up childhood fears, myths, legends and superstitions, and in so doing, overturn common perceptions and distort reality. Just as it is impossible to fully understand the workings of the human mind, the environments created in the fiction are difficult to grasp, alien and mysterious and possibly reflecting, in the form of the deep, dark pits and dungeons, an allegorical picture of psychic depths beyond our conscious knowledge. Robert Barry (1995) states that: “the most important single element of the Gothic novel is its overwhelming atmosphere of menace and brooding terror…characteristically achieved by creating profoundly threatening landscapes.” (Berry 1995) In ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, Poe creates an atmosphere of increasing tension and doom, launching into a description which engages the reader at once, with both place and protagonist. The negative adjectives, ‘bleak’, ‘rank’, ‘decayed’ and so on, cause the narrator to suffer ‘an utter depression of soul’ and for the reader, shorten the aesthetic distance; emotions and aroused at once. In comparing his experience to waking from an opium-induced sleep, he adds to the nightmare quality, the unreality and lack of rational control, further emphasizing this by the way in which he tried to make sense of his fearful feelings. While accepting that “combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us” he believed “the reason, and the analysis of this power lie among considerations beyond our depth.” (Poe 1840) The rational, civilized response to that which confounds or affects us psychologically is to try to make sense of it by examining it from a different angle; in this instance, the power of the place to frighten and unbalance is merely doubled by the reflection in the tarn. Viewed from the ‘precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn’ , ‘the ghastly tree-stems’ and ‘mansion of gloom’ (Poe 1840), the scene is only made more threatening. By admitting to being even more afraid and depressed by the place, the narrator brings to the forefront the idea that once one is conscious of fear and superstition, its power increases. Further insecurity evolves with the realization that while the place reeked of decay and rottenness, there was no concrete evidence of this, other than a ‘barely perceptible fissure’ (Poe 1840). Inside, the atmosphere pervades and gives everyday familiar objects, inanimate though they seem, the power to confuse, and as the reader and narrator proceed through the Gothic arch, along dark floored passageways, into a lofty tower room, where access to light and air is denied, the uneasiness grows. The gloom and sorrow of the house reflect the character of Roderick Usher, who, like the building, appears in a state of near collapse. Again, the use of the word ‘ghastly’ and reference to opium create the image of someone not in their right mind. For the narrator, this poses a difficulty; for mental instability is frightening, it cannot be rationally dealt with or understood. Despite ‘excessive nervous agitation’, the narrator tries to help his friend, but builds the tension in describing Usher’s condition thus: “His action was alternately vivacious and sullen” (Poe 1840) Roderick considered his illness the result of a ‘family evil’, and together with the house, its inhabitants suffering an ancient curse as a result of the malevolent force of the place. This view is held locally, where people perceive the house and family to be evil and cursed. There is evidence that Roderick is suffering from what is termed by Fromm (1973) as ‘negative narcissism,’ “constantly and anxiously concerned with his health to the point of hypochondria.” (Fromm 1973) This is not in doubt, for the narrator consistently refers to him as ‘the hypochondriac’, with but the suggestion that this extended to include his sister Madeline, who is dying from some undiagnosed malady. Her ghastly appearance as she passes through the chamber, further unnerves both reader and narrator. There is an ambiguous suggestion of time standing still, while passing very slowly, but the scene illustrates the vastness of the room, the mysterious ‘other regions’ and the feeling of claustrophobia as the door shuts behind her. Her disease, it may be inferred, comes both from the family curse and the house itself. That the house has robbed Roderick of his sanity is made evident in the painting he produces of the vaults and deep underground tunnels, integral parts of the Gothic ‘space’, and in the verses of ‘The Haunted Palace’, which he composed and sang. In fact, the architecture suggests the house has absorbed ancient evil, the walls imbued with it; this is what is killing the family. The books he studies show a preoccupation with ancient religion and rituals. The vaults take on sinister and ‘uncanny’ significance when used as a burial place for the undead Madeline, the horror of which is made more so by the location. “The vault…half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere…was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission for light; lying at a great depth, immediately beneath that portion of the building in which was my own sleeping apartment.” (Poe 1840) Within this passage are several elements to engender fear and cause nightmares. There is the childhood fear of the dark, stories of being buried alive, the possibility of being haunted by the dead, the knowledge of what lies beneath, and the ultimate fear of death itself. Freud believed that by repressing emotional impulse, anxiety would result, and this repressed feeling would recur – hence the ‘uncanny’ is something we have met before. He states that : “..this uncanny is in reality nothing new or alien, but something which is familiar and old-established in the mind and which has become alienated from it only through the process of repression”… “the uncanny as something which ought to have remained hidden but has come to light..” (Freud 1919) This could be interpreted as confronting our fears, living with the feelings, and moving on with a healthier psyche, not so easily accomplished in the Gothic edifice of the House of Usher. He goes on to state that “..the primitive fear of the dead is still so strong within us and always ready to come to the surface on any provocation.” (Freud 1919) This fear is fully expressed by both Roderick and the narrator after the burial of Madeline, and infects the reader with precisely the same feelings. There is little breathing space for reason, or ‘the cold light of day’ to achieve any rational semblance of normality. Instead, the physical surroundings become more unbalancing, more menacing, as night, darkness and the elemental forces of wind and storm combine with strange unnatural sounds to drive the story inexorably forward. The “phantasmagoric influence of the room – of the dark and tattered draperies..” (Poe 1840) are the least frightening of what is to come. The haunted bedroom is a device used to similar and more unnerving effect in Emily Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ (Bronte 1947), where Lockwood is confronted by Catherine’s ghost in the window in Chapter 3. Stoneman (1995) in the Introduction, refers to this in relation to Freud and the uncanny as follows: “the parts of our own nature that we cannot afford to acknowledge if we want to remain civilized.” (Stoneman 1995) Keats’ poem ‘The Eve of St. Agnes’ (1848) is another example of the Gothic bedchamber and the vulnerability of the unconscious state. This is also the narrator’s dilemma in the house, as seeking distraction, the story within a story adds to the terror, with the screaming dragon reflecting the screaming, tearing noises about the place, culminating in the appearance of the dying Madeline on escaping the tomb, the worst ‘psychic’ experience for anyone. The reader is confronted by all the primitive fears and superstitions which he would prefer to keep hidden, but no amount of rational thinking can remove their effects. The destruction of the house and the Usher family depicts a metaphoric vision of Hell, one that might be extended to include death of the mind and society. “..the full, setting blood-red moon, which now shone vividly through that once-barely discernable fissure…I saw the mighty wall rushing asunder..” (Poe 1840) The house may also symbolize cannibalism, as Devetak (n.d.) suggests, having consumed its occupants before final destruction. There is a feeling of tenuous relief, of having narrowly escaped falling into some dark chasm, both physically and mentally, just barely reaching safety and a return to some semblance of sanity. In ‘The Rats in the Walls, (Lovecraft 1923), the Gothic architecture and location is similarly used to create that menace and intense emotional disturbance. In contrast to Poe, the factual, almost prosaic beginning of the story lulls the reader into a false sense of security. The Gothic emerges however, with the description thus: “This foundation was a very singular thing, being merged on one side with the solid limestone of the precipice from whose brink the priory overlooked the desolate valley…” (Lovecraft 1923) The precipice is personified, the scene further set with “strange relic of forgotten centuries, but the country folk hated it”; the menace is begun and the reader knows, like the narrator, that Delapoer “came of an accursed house.” As indeed did Usher. The shock of the obliteration of the foundations signals that the very fabric of the place, like the House of Usher, in imbued with evil, passed down generations, along with atavistic guilt. The Delapoer guilt is fully exposed, or so it seems, while Usher’s remains mysterious and unnamed. However, as Delapoer narrates the story, in contrast to Poe’s narrator, the Priory does not immediately cause much unease. “I saw it without emotion, a jumble of tottering medieval ruins covered in lichens and honeycombed with rooks nests, perched perilously upon a precipice…” (Lovecraft 1923) That last alliterative phrase creates unease for the reader, linking back to the destruction we have been told about; this feeling grows when nobody wants to work on restoring the building, for as with the Ushers, both place and family aroused fear and hatred. It also signifies that the reader may be on the brink of something terrifying, an unknown evil, vaguely referred to in legend and local lore. Lovecraft and Poe both refer to ancient religious rites, use the underground, vaulted dungeon images, convincing that this is the source of the evil, which emanate from these places. Lovecraft is more specific, while still remaining mysterious. “In one chronicle there is a reference to a de la Poer as ‘cursed of God in 1307’, whilst village legendry had nothing but evil and frantic fear to tell of the castle that went up on the foundations of the old temple and priory.” (Lovecraft 1923) The story becomes more sinister as it segues between the prosaic and normal servants and Captain Norris, to the increasingly disturbed Delapoer and his psychic cats. The presence of others human or animal, contrasts with Poe, whose narrator is left alone to handle the evil environment and the actions of a mad and dying man. The tension steadily builds to the terrifying climax, whereas Lovecraft leaves the reader in doubt as to what is really happening. Freud’s ‘intellectual uncertainty’ is operating here, throwing the reader off balance. The prophetic dreams, the auditory and visual experiences with rats seem Delapoer’s reality and suggest a descent into madness. In some ways, Lovecrate almost uses the Gothic literary convention as an afterthought, in relation to the study and bedroom, for example: “…in my study, a lofty west room on the second storey, with groined arches, black oak panelling, and a triple Gothic window overlooking the limestone cliff and desolate valley.” and again: “the west tower chamber..reached from the study by a stone staircase and short gallery – the former partly ancient, the latter entirely restored” (Lovecraft 1923). However, there is no doubt that the descent into the bowels of the earth, the mixture of architectural styles, and the darkness, all contribute to the horror of what the narrator, friends and experts encountered. This evil saturates the place with ancestral wickedness even the rats sought to escape from. It is a horrific scene, but the reader cannot be entirely sure of its reality, a shared experience or the external manifestation of a deranged and damaged psyche. Certainly the rats, walls, dungeons and ancestors all belong to Delapoer. Despite the grotesque and unnerving atmosphere which exist in both stories, there is nothing supernatural; rather the phenomena of un-natural practices and human evil which create the horror. A girl buried alive in a tomb, and the contents of another deep dark space. These are what defy reason, what call up superstitious fear and thus gather more power, placed as they are in surroundings divorced from everyday comprehension and experience. This is what increases fear, conjured from the depths, literally and figuratively, of our own subconscious. It is worth mentioning how darkness is frequently used in other Gothic fiction to arouse fear and terror. For example, Sheridan LeFanu leaves the reader in no doubt that something evil is expected in ‘Mr Justice Harbottle’ (LeFanu 1872), when the narrator describes Harbottle’s house. “When I saw it, it had long been untenanted and had the gloomy reputation beside of a haunted house. Cobwebs floated from the ceilings… The windows were stained with the dust and rain of fifty years, and darkness had thus grown darker.” (LeFanu 1872) Defining the Gothic environment rouses childhood fears and engages the emotions. The most striking difference between Poe and Lovecraft must be the narrator’s role and how this determines the final resolution. Poe’s narrator is omniscient and appears to have regained some mental equilibrium when the cause of his terror is destroyed. As the evil place disintegrates, the narrator becomes safer and reintegrated. In contrast, Lovecraft left his narrator in a state of complete phychosis, clinging to his belief in the rats in the walls of the padded cell. The proof of his derangement had been shockingly exposed: “…found me crouching in the blackness over the plump, half-eaten body of Capt. Norrys….They accuse me of this hideous thing, but they must know that I did not do it….it was the rats…the daemon rats that race behind the padding in this room.” (Lovecraft 1923) The destruction of Exham Priory, the ‘evidence’ in the pits, and all events become dubious for the reader, an ambiguity made cloudier by the reference to Thornton in the next room – or was he? Was Delapoer driven insane by the traumas of his life, the death of his son, his family’s tragedies and his own loneliness? Finally, was Exham Priory really an evil place that was destroyed, or an externalisation of his mental state, with any civilized façade totally removed? There is no doubt that the architecture and locations in both stories are powerfully disturbing, helping to create fear and terror. They bring back childhood memories in which darkness, shadows, strange noises and distortions frightened and disturbed. The writers have moved us into alien landscapes unconnected to our reality and this allows the hidden fears to become concrete long enough to unbalance our preconceptions. They cause us to question just how rational we are in situations where no amount of reasoning can provide answers, and so make us delve deeper into those parts of ourselves that we had attempted to keep hidden. Poe’s story appears to adhere more closely to the Gothic conventions in a straightforward use of setting to create atmosphere and characterization. It might be a great horror story, but we could say it would never happen in reality. It allows us to feel saved at the end, as the evil is removed before our eyes. Yet Lovecraft’s is the more disturbing, for although the setting contributes to the horror, eliciting similar sensations in response, it is the madness which remains that leaves us in fear and doubt. The thought occurs that this could happen to anyone, this losing of the mind, and that the deepest, darkest, unknown part of the psyche is there, below the surface, but present all the same. Finally, the ‘Gothic’ is with us as a modern phenomenon, not merely as a fashion statement, or an aspect of youth culture or a musical trend, but because it relates to the mind, the memory and the endless possibilities of the unknown and unknowable. As ever, setting is vital. One has only to see the video for Iron Maiden’s 1989 song – set in a graveyard, arches and gravestones distorted, menacing the players- aptly titled ‘Can I Play with Madness’ to understand the power of the Gothic. Reference List Architecture of the Mind (n.d.) p.1-3 Available from: http://www.engl.virginia-edu/enec981/Group/chris.architecture.html [cited 4 January 2007] Berry, R. 1995. Gothicism in Conrad and Dostoevsky. Published in Deep South, Vol 1, n.2 (May 1995) Available from: http://www.otago.ac.nz/DeepSouth/Vol1no2/berry1issue2.html [cited 4 January 2007] Bronte, Emily. 1847. Wuthering Heights. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1995 Devetak, R. (n.d.) Notes for Aberystwyth Talk. The Gothic Scene of International Relations: Ghosts, Monsters, Terror and the Sublime after September 11. p. 6-7. Available from: http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:3Yng8nCOQ4J:rspas.anu.edu/ir/Oceanic/OC1 [cited 4 January 2007] Freud, S. 1919. The Uncanny Part 2. Available from: http://people.emich-edu/acoykenda/uncanny2.htm [cited 4 January 2007] Fromm, E. Ph.D.1977. The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. Hamondsworth, Middlesex. Penguin Books Keats, John. 1848. The Eve of St. Agnes. Norton Anthology of Poetry 4th Edition 1996. Ed. Ferguson, M., Salter, M. J. and Stallworthy, J. London & New York. W. W. Norton and Company Ltd. Lovecraft, H. P. 1923. The Rats in the Walls. Published in Weird Tales, Vol. 3, No.3 p. 25-31, 1924. Available from: http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/lovecraft/moonlove10.html [cited 4 January 2007] Philips 1999. World Atlas and Encyclopedia. Editor, Steve Luck. London. George Philip Limited. Poe, E. A. 1940. The Fall of the House of Usher. Tales of Grotesque and Arabesque 1940, 1: p 75-103. E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore. Available from: http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/usherb.htm. [cited 4 January 2007] Sheridan LeFanu, J. 1872. In a Glass Darkly. ‘Mr. Justice Harbottle’ . Ware, Herts. Wordsworth Editions Limited. 1995. Stoneman, P. 1995. Introduction to Wuthering Heights. Oxford. Oxford University Press. Read More