This study will compare and contrast the uses of Gothic imagery and settings in two short stories, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." While the two stories feature Gothic imagery and settings, Poe's story is completely immersed in the Gothic, while Gilman's story limits Gothic elements to the imagination of the protagonist. In Poe's story the Gothic setting actually exists in the Usher house and its surroundings, whereas in Gilman the Gothic setting exists entirely inside the mind of the protagonist. In both stories the Gothic is used to show the growing madness which is the subject of the stories. However, again, in Poe the madness envelops all characters, while in Gilman the only victim of the Gothic is the protagonist. Gilman's story is more effective because it blends elements of realism and the Gothic, while Poe's story is utterly fantastic and does not develop the interior state of the characters as Gilman's does.
Gothic fiction is marked by imagery and settings which create a sense of gloom, mystery, horror, the supernatural, the irrational, and horror. These elements are intended to create in the reader a feeling that the veil of ordinary life has been torn back to reveal the darker aspects of life. Both stories adhere to this Gothic standard. In addition, the Gothic also focuses on extraordinary psychological states which often suggest madness, a feature also at the heart of the two stories.
The great difference between the stories in their use of these elements, however, is that in Poe there is no escape from the oppressive Gothic atmosphere. The narrator may appear sane because he is exceptionally articulate, but when one looks beneath the surface of his narration, one sees that he is almost as mad as Roderick Usher himself. The imagery he uses is relentlessly Gothic, and the Gothic nature of the setting is made even more oppressive by his detai...