Classical gothic imagery is used throughout the story.
             Drippingly dark surroundings and terrifying ghostly symbols are used
             throughout to evoke a sense of fear.
             When the narrator approaches the house, he says he was
             struck by an overwhelming sense of gloom as he entered the ivy-
             covered, decaying old house. The very sight of the house caused him
             "an illness, a sickening feeling of the heart, an unredeemed
             dreariness." Even though the "eye like" windows of the mansion
             seemed to be staring at him, he managed to get over his fear and
             When he entered the house, he was led to Roderick's inner
             chamber where it looked as if sunlight had never entered. Roderick
             looked terrifying. The dark atmosphere and the personality of the
             mansion had "moulded the destinies of his family" and made him
             what he was. He and his sister were ill, but his sister was confined to
             bed and there was no cure for her illness. She and her brother looked
             Throughout the story the narrator is amazed by everything he is
             seeing. It is a dark, gloomy place filled with illness. It talks of things
             decaying, dungeons, and medieval trappings. All through the story
             the reader is feeling a sense of fear from all of the horrid details. In
             the end the blood may have suggested that Madeline was a
             vampiress. The horrid mental images brings on a wonderfully grim
             ...