Gothic & Horror Flashcards
The Tell-Tale Heart (author and summary)
Edgar Allan Poe. Narrator kills an old guy bc the mans eye bothers him. He hides the old guy in the floorboards of his house. When the police come to his house, he is haunted by the old man’s heartbeat and confesses to the crime.
Cask of Amontillado (author and summary)
Edgar Allan Poe. A man named Montresor who tricks his friend Fortunato into going into an underground wine cellar and then traps him there as revenge. Montresor seals Fortunato behind a wall, leaving him to die.
Black Cat (author and summary)
Edgar Allan Poe. A man who becomes cruel and violent, eventually killing his cat and then his wife, but the ghostly presence of the cat leads to his capture by the police.
The Raven (author and summary)
Man who is visited by a talking raven who keeps on repeating the word “nevermore”, causing the narrator to be tormented by memories of his lost love Lenore, ultimately leading him to madness.
The Monkey’s Paw (author and summary)
W.W. Jacobs. Family comes into possession of a monkey’s paw that grants them three wishes. Their first wish is 200 pounds, which causes their son to die and them to receive compensation of 200 pounds. They then wish that their son come back to life, but are too scared to answer the knocking door, so the father wishes that the son no longer be brought back to life.
The Mezzotint (author and summary)
M.R. James. Mr Williams obtains a mezzotint that shows a house, but he notices over time that image changes to show a creepy figure go into the house and steal a baby. He learns more about the history of the house.
A school story (author and summary)
M.R. James. The story concerns a man named Sampson who teaches Latin at a boarding school in the south of England. Unusual Latin sentences start to appear among the work which Sampson sets his students. Sampson appears to be deeply troubled by the sentences which obviously remind him of a dark secret from his past. One night, a ghostly figure comes into Sampsons room and he hasn’t been seen since.
Lost Hearts (author and summary)
M.R. James. Stephen comes to live with his uncle, only to discover that his uncle killed two children previously and took their hearts and needs the heart of a third child to give him supernatural powers.
The Lottery (author and summary)
Shirley Jackson. A small town that holds a yearly lottery where one person is chosen to be stoned to death
Dagon (author and summary)
H.P. Lovecraft. A sailor who recounts his terrifying encounter with an ancient, monstrous sea creature after being shipwrecked on a mysterious island, leaving him haunted by the horrors he witnessed and ending up killing himself by jumping out of a window
Rats in the walls (author and summary)
H.P. Lovecraft. Man moves into and restores his families old mansion. His cats start going crazy and he discovers the sounds of rats scurrying in his walls. He brings investigators and his friend Norrys down to the subcellar where they find a chamber filled with human bones. They also see evidence of ancient rituals and butcher shops. The story ends where the narrator is in an asylum, because people think he killed Norrys, who in reality was killed by the rats.
Graveyard Shift (author and summary)
Stephen King. A guy named Hall works over time at a Mill to clean out the basement. There are a ton of rats, and Hall wants to figure out where the rats have been coming from. He finds a hidden underground chamber and makes Warwick come with him. They find a huge nest of rats that are mutated and have been reproducing in the dark for a long time, and both end being killed by them.
Grey Matter (author and summary)
Stephen King. Richie’s son brought him a bad batch of beer. This causes the dad to start drinking a ton of beer, to keep the light off 24/7, and never get up from where he’s sitting, causing the dad to eventually turn into a grey, putrid blob. A man from the gas station, Henry, who sells the beers goes to investigate after Richie’s son comes to him crying (bc he just saw his father eat a cat.)
Frankenstein (gothic elements)
Remote, isolate, or eerie settings (arctic). Possibility of returning to life after death. Character exhibits overwhelming guilt (for making frankenstein). Feeling of gloom throughout the story.
The Tell-Tale Heart (gothic elements)
Character exhibit overwhelming guilt. Madness (insanity). Terrifying things occur at night.
