O gótico em contos de horror de Poe: análise das narrativas A Queda da Casa de Usher e O Retrato Oval

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the presence of the gothic through narratives, starting from the characterization of specific elements of the narrative such as space and characters. Gothic aesthetics is an ancient movement, studies say it broke out in the mid-18th century, had great representative names such as Thomas James Mathias, William Shakespeare, Horace Walpole, Charles Robert Maturin, Mrs. Radcliffe and Lewis and our aforementioned author, Edgar Allan. Put. As research object was used two short stories of the author Edgar Allan Poe, namely: The Oval Portrait (1842), and The Fall of the House of Usher (1839). We used, above all, what Lovecraft (1987) defines as horror and supernatural narratives to understand the issue of gothic in Poe short stories, as well as narrative categories such as space and character as a methodological apparatus for our appreciation of the tales in question. These two short stories express, throughout their narratives, elements proper to the fantastic gothic narrative. The characterization of space, for example, is presented in order to present the terror/horror in both short stories. Both of them also present in the closing of their plots moments of absolute terror, besides being moved by the fickle and persistent ghost of fear.