Yes It Is the Final

Where most books and movies have characters or leading roles as titles, in Horace Walpole’s “The Castle Of Otranto” and Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” this is not so. In both these gothic literature pieces the creators have chosen to use the actual setting where the stories take place as the actual titles. "Pan's Labyrinth" is set in 1944 and is the story of a young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather in Spain. It is in the opening minutes of the movie where you are quickly introduced to the eerie, cold, greyish stairwell where a young girl is seen running down frantically. Similarly, in “The Castle of Otranto” the audience is greeted with a haunting element in chapter 1 as a mysterious death takes place in the castle in the opening pages! The use of the settings in both these texts creates terror and suspense for the reader immediately. In “The Castle of Otranto” the castle itself works against a haughty tyrant, Prince Manfred, from fulfilling his evil plans, and in “Pan’s Labyrinth” the actual fort and labyrinth leads to the demise of the hostile violent tempered Captain Vidal. Obviously, the setting can be looked at as actual characters and clearly seen how they work against the male antagonists. At the same time, the settings not only hindered the male antagonists in many ways, the setting worked in favor for both female protagonists. The castle and the labyrinth, greatly impact the fate of Isabella from “Castle of Otranto” and Ofelia of “Pan’s Labyrinth”. In all, the dark underlying tone throughout the course of the stories prove that the authors do a great job in using the setting to strike fear and mystery in their audience. The title of the book as the setting itself plays a significant role in the fate of all the characters. Without such emphasis on the setting, the plot and all of the details revolving around the castle and the labyrinth would not play such a vital role in how the stories unfold.

In the...