http://www.d.umn.edu/~sadams/Authors/Bro...
http://f02.middlebury.edu/AL260A/Reading...
There are some similarities in the love stories of the American Gothic period. Two stories: "Somnambulism: A Fragment" by Charles Brockden Brown and "An Account of a Beautiful Young Lady" by Abraham Panther, are an example of the tendencies for fatalistic love in gothic literature. Both, I have noticed, represent the lover as passionate, courageous, and completely infatuated with the receiver of his/her attentions. The love this person feels completely encompasses his/her heart and mind with little room left to think of anything else. The object of the person's affection is, in his/her eyes, perfect, pure, the owner of extreme beauty, and the character judges himself unworthy of the other's love. This lover's view can be observed in Brown's "Somnambulism..." when he endows Miss Davis with numerous positive qualities as beauty, honor, courage, and rectitude.
In American Gothic Literature the lover or lovers are often presented with difficult trials. They endure dangerous, often mortal, situations trying to escape those who oppose to their relationship. The antagonist is frequently represented by a family member or a jealous lover. In "An Account of a Beautiful Young Lady" the antagonist is incarnated by the father of the lady, as she herself tells the travelers when relating her story, "We were however obliged to conceal our attachment from my father". In these perilous situations the main character often fails to save his or her lover, which is sometimes killed in some inhumane way to which the impotent protagonist serves as a witness. Panther's "An Account of a Beautiful Young Lady" displays this impotency when the lover of the protagonist woman is savagely murdered by Indians. "...we were surrounded by a party of Indians who led us about two miles and then barbarously murdered my lover, cutting and mangling him in the most inhuman manner. Then, after tying him to the stake, they kindled a fire round him and, while he burnt, they ran round, singing and dancing rejoicing in their brutal cruelty."
The protagonist deems himself/herself the most tortured soul in the world as the misfortunes occur. There are characteristic passages in the stories in which the character goes into a self pitying monologue of some sort. Examples of this tendency is seen many times in "Somnambulism..." when the main character dwells on his misfortunes and predicaments. In Panther's story the lady calls her situation "wretched" and cruel. The characters in gothic stories are often tormented by horrendous actions which are sometimes acted by themselves like in "Somnambulism..." in which Althorpe is the author of the murder of Miss Davis under unnatural conditions (while he sleepwalked). The passionate grief that Althorpe feels for the death of Miss Davis is greatly augmented when he realizes that the author of the murder is none but himself.
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