Hitchcock Vs Poe

Costanza Poser
Nationalistic Era Essay
Edgar Allan Poe vs. Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock is more effective conveying the essential elements of gothic literature because the movie Psycho, through images, sounds, and music, gives a better idea and interpretation of these elements than Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher does. I will prove my thesis analyzing and comparing three of theten basic elements of gothic literature that we can find in both Poe’s piece of literature and in Hitchcock’s masterpiece using some examples. The comparisons will be on how the two authors elaborate the themes of Atmosphere of Mystery and Suspense; Omens, Portents, and Visions and the theme of High, even Overwrought emotions.
The element of Atmosphere of Mystery and Suspense is elaborated byPoe through the description and setting of the House of Usher and also the facts that are happening in the house. In the description of the building, the narrator spends some lines describing the lurid tarn and the dead vegetation surrounding the old house and the scary feeling he feels in the presence of the house and its atmosphere. Some other words are spent to describe how the house is stillstanding even if every single part of it was in bad conditions: there is a big crack from the roof to the bottom of the house and it is covered in mold. Not only the description of the house determines the Atmosphere of Mystery and Suspense, but also the facts that are happening in it. First of all the fact that Roderick is going insane and his sister Madeline is so sick, that dies. Once she died,she was preserved by her brother in a wall of the house, but the conditions she was in, let the narrator doubtful.
Hitchcock elaborates this theme by making the plot of the movie more complicated as it goes on; the murder of Marion, apparently easy to solve, gets more intricate as Norman cleans up after the murder and as another victim is involved: the detective Arbogast. To make this situationdarker, there is also the uncertainty of who is buried in Mrs. Bates’ tomb. To increase the suspense and feeling of mystery in the spectator, there is also the way in which the movie is shot. The shots of the characters and of their actions are accurate and detailed and make the spectator feel like the actors are being observed by someone else in the movie, but also give the spectator a sense ofimplicit complicity to what happens. Another important element that is part of this theme is the soundtrack: music is the most direct way to give sensations and feelings and the sound of strings in this movie is the best way to make the spectator feel the suspense and mystery.
The element of gothic literature “Omens, Portents and Visions” is elaborated by Poe by talking about the incestuousrelationships among the members of the House of Usher that had been going on for generations and generations, causing illness, diseases, and insanity among the members themselves. This leads to the second example of this theme: the fact that also the last two members of this family, Roderick and Madeline, are slowly dying, and so is the house itself. Also the strange rumors heard by during a stormynight by the narrator make the reader feel like something bad is going to happen.
The movie director Alfred Hitchcock elaborates this theme in his movie by narrating legends and weird facts about Norman Bates’ house and life. First of all, the fact that he stuffs birds as hobby is omen of what is going to happen to Marion. Mrs. Bates’ possessive behavior towards her son (she doesn’t let him leave thefamily house and doesn’t want him to talk to other women) and the fact that people think that she died, but she is still being seen at the house’s window, warn the spectator that something dark is going on.
High, even Overwrought emotion is the third element of gothic literature being analyzed in Poe’s piece. Two of the prevailing emotions in this short story are melancholy and sadness, that...