The Witching Hour :: essays research papers

The Witching Hour Title: The Witching Hour Author: Anne Rice Copyright Date: 1990 Number of Page Read: 1043 Three main elements classify the genre: Gothic, Mystery, and Romance. I classify Gothic novels as stories pertaining to a dismal atmosphere, such as Edgar Allan Poe's literature. . Lovers who unlock thirteen generation's of Mayfair family secrets and incest; discovering that their intervention becomes a more complex-intertwining destiny. Our Antagonist Michael Curry, a 48-year old Irish man who had lost himself in a world in which he had accomplished his dreams, experienced his emotional pain, and yet he felt empty. Michael approached the rocks of the bay, thought of his life and emptiness, then he slipped and fell to his fatal doom in the sea. Found by a woman known as Rowan Mayfair , he discovered that he was dead for over an hour as he rested in the hospital. Michael also discovered that he had received the gift of seeing images by using his hands to touch objects, and that he chose to come back. He was burdened by the images and the vision after his death, that he had a purpose, that he was sent for a reason. Something that had to do with a doorway, and the number thirteen. After isolation from the press of the burden of his powers, he found himself wanting to go back on the deck of the boat where he was rescued. He wanted to talk to the woman who rescued him, for he thought that she would let him touch the boat to recover images that night. He discovered that this neurosurgeon, Dr. Rowan Mayfair, was the veritable love of his life. After he discovered how much he deeply loved Rowan, he began to reminisce the images of his purpose; that certain elements and images of his childhood hinted him to return to the house he had been fascinated with in New Orleans as a child. Another major character of the story, Englishmen Aaron Lightner, was a part of an archaic organization known as the "Talamasca". Aaron studied a family called the Mayfairs in New Orleans, because his organization had believed the Mayfairs to be witches. He devoted his life to the history of the Mayfair witches, and his organization had compiled a history of the Mayfairs since the days of the 17th century inquisition in Europe. As he watched Michael and Rowan from the corners of darkness, he intervened their lives to enlighten their knowledge of Rowan's family history—and its dangerous potential. Rowan did not know a single thing of her family history, as she was left in the dark her whole life by her aunt