Exploring Gothic Literature The Pit and the Pendulum

Exploring Gothic Literature The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allen Poe Get your paper read to create a Note Cloud: • Write the words Gothic Literature in large letters. • Add these words using smaller letters: • Characters • Setting • Plot • Supernaturals • Famous works • The dark side of Romanticism

Write “Elements of Gothic Literature” on your paper. Take notes as you watch the videos. Write a summary explaining all of the

Gothic Fiction: • Horror and Romance • Sinister Settings • Extreme landscapes, decaying castles, hazy forests • Elements of supernatural • Stimulation of fear, horror, macabre (grisly, gruesome, morbid) • Villains, tyrants, maniacs • Madwoman, femme fatales, persecuted maidens • Byronic heroes

Your Task is to Create a Gothic Tale Exposition

Exposition • The exposition is the part of the story that sets the stage for the drama to follow. • It introduces theme, setting, characters, and circumstances at the beginning of the story. • Consider these for a Gothic Tale: • a setting in a castle, ancestral family home, vault or crypt • supernatural beings - monsters, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and such • a person, particularly a damsel (or 2, or 3!) in distress • an atmosphere of suspense and/or terror • women threatened by tyrannical male/patriarchal figures • an exotic locale, often in a country other than that of the story's origin.

Conflict • The conflict is the struggle between the characters in the story. • In a Gothic Tale consider these: • a vendetta or vengeance perpetrated against the protagonist and/or his/her family by the antagonist • an unrequited love, or illicit love affair or romance • an ancient prophecy foretelling the doom of the protagonist and/or his/her family • Insanity explored

Rising Action • The rising action is a series of events building toward the point of greatest interest. • These events begin immediately after the exposition of the story and builds up to the climax. • For your Gothic Tale, consider plot twists that the reader did not see coming.

Climax • The climax is the apex of the story, where the ‘battle’ will take place. All of the drama and conflict has led to this point where it is determined if the leading character will succeed or fail.

Falling Action • The falling action occurs right after the climax. • It is what happens after the main problem of the story has been solved. • Consider this, what are the direct effects of the climax? • The falling action gives the reader satisfaction of the whole story; knowing what happened next.

Resolution • The resolution ties up any loose ends that may be left in the story. • Sometimes the rising action and the resolution mix together in a plot.

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