How is the setting used in this excerpt characteristic of the gothic style?

it [the tree] was connected with the tragical story of the unfortunate andré, who had been taken prisoner hard by; and was universally known by the name of major andré's tree. the common people regarded it with a mixture of respect and superstition, partly out of sympathy for the fate of its ill-starred namesake, and partly from the tales of strange sights and doleful lamentations told concerning it.

as ichabod approached this fearful tree, he began to whistle; he thought his whistle was answered–it was but a blast sweeping sharply through the dry branches. as he approached a little nearer, he thought he saw something white, hanging in the midst of the tree–he paused and ceased whistling; but on looking more narrowly, perceived that it was a place where the tree had been scathed by lightning, and the white wood laid bare. suddenly he heard a groan–his teeth chattered and his knees smote against the saddle: it was but the rubbing of one huge bough upon another, as they were swayed about by the breeze.

Read the excerpt from "the storyteller." the smaller girl created a diversion by beginning to recite "on the road to mandalay.” she only knew the first line, but she put her limited knowledge to the fullest possible use. she repeated the line over and over again in a dreamy but resolute and very audible voice; it seemed to the bachelor as though some one had had a bet with her that she could not repeat the line aloud two thousand times without stopping. whoever it was who had made the wager was likely to lose his bet. "come over here and listen to a story,” said the aunt, when the bachelor had looked twice at her and once at the communication cord. the children moved listlessly towards the aunt’s end of the carriage. evidently her reputation as a storyteller did not rank high in their estimation. in a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with every one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character. which instances of situational irony occur in the passage? select two options. a.) “whoever it was who had made the wager was likely to lose his bet.” b.) “‘come over here and listen to a story,’ said the aunt, when the bachelor had looked twice at her and once at the communication cord.” -- c.) “the children moved listlessly towards the aunt’s end of the carriage.” d.) “evidently her reputation as a story-teller did not rank high in their estimation.” -- e.) “in a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was good.”