Emily had been left alone by his father, who had contributed to her loneliness by chasing off the men who had sought her hand in marriage. The abandonment theme that surrounds the house also applies to Emily and her life. The readers are immediately intimated to the gloom, solitude, and decay surrounding the main character.Įven the interior of the house is not different from the exterior as it features paintings that are covered in dust and leather that is cracking due to old age and lack of maintenance.
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The element of an imposing decrepit house is further supported by the author’s claim that there has not been any visitor in Emily’s house for a long time. This description paints the picture of a haunted house whose lack of maintenance accentuates a ghoulish unsightly establishment.
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The house is described as a square frame with a faded exterior. When the story begins, the readers are introduced to the dominant gothic element in the form of Emily’s dilapidated house. All these gothic elements contribute to the plot’s development by creating a certain kind of atmosphere. In this story, Faulkner employs several gothic elements including the decayed corpse, the imposing decrepit house, and the secret horrors that are subject to Emily’s suspicious house. Using gothic elements, the author presents a story about a decaying social structure and the great extent of human-perpetrated horrors. The story unfolds when Emily finds out that Homer is not ready to marry and decides to do all she can to keep her suitor from leaving her. Due to the ensuing loneliness, Emily looks for a suitor and finds one in Baron Homer. In a “Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner presents the story of an aristocrat who dies thereby bequeathing his home to his daughter, Emily. Writers often deploy gothic elements in a bid to reveal popular themes and motifs such as hidden truths, death, complicated love, eroticism, and creepy characters among others. Gothic elements in any literary work represent the intricate literature that specifically deals with the mysterious, unusual, and supernatural.