I know not how it was – but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. One example is how Edgar Allan Poe immediately establishes a suitably Gothic setting: “the melancholy House of Usher.
The setting in the Gothic is of great importance the architectural connection discussed above supports this line of argument and can be seen in the care which is taken to describe it in Gothic narratives. The setting of The Castle of Otranto is, of course, a castle, thus in accordance with Hogle’s criteria above, as well as containing subterranean passages (the tunnel which Isabella escapes through) and these attributes in the physical setting of the narrative remain classic in the genre, and from these and more, later authors have evolved the broader and more diverse selection of narrative settings. Further support for this argument of decay’s importance to the Gothic can be found by considering the settings in The Castle of Otranto, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe. Manfred’s knowledge of this prophecy and the early introduction of the giant helmet, this coupled with the death of his son and his subsequent actions suggest that the trauma of the events has initiated a state of mental decline for Manfred, leading ultimately to his destruction. The choice of this word can be explained by considering the narrative in The Castle of Otranto where Manfred’s rule is undermined and in a constant state of decay due to his knowledge of the prophecy that “ the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it” (Walpole 17). The setting and its expression is nearly as varied as the characters which are found in the Gothic, while there is a commonality found in the various settings, that which Hogle described as an “antiquated or seemingly antiquated space.” Another description which is suggested here is that of decay being a significant element in the setting, characters or narrative.ĭecay is here understood as meaning both decline and decomposition but with greater emphasis on the decline-understanding. The various settings in the Gothic do take many forms.
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