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edgar allan poe motifs
gothic horror essay edgar allan poe
gothic horror essay edgar allan poe
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The Insane Mind of Edgar Allan Poe Probes As a short-story writer, Poe was a fascinating man of imagination. In theme, Poe places the human mind under investigation and probes insanity beneath the surface of normal existence. He was the first author in American literature to make the neurotic, the heroic figure, the protagonist, in his stories. Poe's most enduring tales are those of horror, the horror coming, from the working of an irrational or criminal mind, driven to evil or insanity by a perverse irrational force which, to Poe, is an elementary impulse in man. Typically, The Cask of Amontillado, The Black Cat, and The Tell Tale Heart are three criminal stories of this kind. In these tales, Poe takes readers in the murky territories of the strange world of insanity. And now, let's see what the features and familiarities of these half-mad, evil, and dark criminal minds. To start with, like many Poe's stories, the main characters in these three stories are all driven by their emotions, and mostly, hatred against their antagonists. For example, in The Cask of Amontillado...
Reading Edgar Allen Poe’s works such as “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart” are both written around 1840’s and written in the gothic style. Poe displays his horror short stories, in which the reader can differentiate his signature style. Although many of Poe’s significant works may have a similar theme, the reader can distinguish the themes through the characters in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart.”
Edgar Allan Poe is known for some of the most horrifying stories ever written through out time. He worked with the natural world, animals, and weather to create chilling literature. Two most notable thrillers are “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe was infatuated with death, disfigurement, and dark characteristics of the world. He could mix characters, setting, theme,and mood in a way that readers are automatically drawn into reading. Both of these short stories have the same major aspects in common.
Poe is credited for defining the modern short story. In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, he tells a tale of revenge. The story begins with Montresor, our narrator, stating that Fortunato, his enemy, has insulted him and how he seeks revenge. It continues by describing how Montresor leads Fortunato to his death by using reverse psychology and alcohol. “The Cask of Amontillado” conveys an eerie mood to its audience through dialogue and descriptive details.
Poe’s life was never an easy one which could have gave him the inspiration he need to create such dark tales. From the “The Raven” which makes the reader feel along with narrator over the loss of someone dear and spiraling into a state of depression. To the tale of “The Tell-Tale Heart” which makes a person think why the narrator believe he is sane and in the right for killing the man. Edgar Allan Poe writes dark tales but his stories draw a person in and leaves the reader
Edgar Allan Poe has a style that is dark and morbid. His tone is very gloomy and obscure. The tone of “The Cask of Amontillado” is almost tame compared to the tone of “The Black Cat”, his other work we covered. The tone of that work is almost maddening. “The Cask of Amontillado” tone is very sinister and methodic. Whereas “The Black Cat”, has a pulse to a cadence and rhythm though no clear pattern is established. Poe’s style of writing seems so personal, as a reader I had to remind myself this was fiction. His first-person style of writing is so detailed and intricate it is very easy to become invested in the world he creates. “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat” both have themes of revenge where the supposed victim is untimely
Poe is renowned for his authorship of tales dealing with morbid psychology. Critiquing his work, Edmund Clarence Stedman says of Poe: "His strength is unquestionable in those clever pieces of ratiocination...and especially in those with elements of terror and morbid psychology added". Stedman goes on to say, "His artistic contempt for metaphysics is seen even in those tales which appear most transcendental. Th...
Edgar Allan Poe, an often misinterpreted literary mastermind, known predominantly by his extraordinary tales of horror, forbidden love, madness, and mystery, is more than meets the eye. Though his genres of expertise may indicate otherwise, Poe was a very social person, a gentleman by trade, and he possessed more hands-on military experience than any other major American author in history. As a writer, Poe gained a great deal of his inspiration from his surroundings. His enlistment in the army contributed significantly to his repertoire, and inspired some of his greatest works, including “’The Gold Bug;’ ’The Man Who Was Used Up,’ a satire of southern frontier politics; ‘The Balloon Hoax,’ set along the mid-Atlantic Carolinas coast; ‘The Oblong Box,’ involving a voyage out of Charleston harbor; [and] ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’ possibly based on a Fort Independence/Castle Island Legend”(Beidler, Soldier 342). The death of his mother and his unfortunate love life played another major role in his authoring, giving him the ability to write about “. . . the intense symbiosis between love and hatred . . . [illustrating that] love is seldom as simple or as happy as popularly hoped” (Hoffman 81). Poe’s chilling tales remain popular today, and have a long history of providing inspiration for major books and other cultural staples of entertainment.
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/) Love and hate are both very common obsessions. Obsession is one of the more general themes of these short stories, but the theme can be taken a step further and become more specific. There are multiple different themes for Poe’s works. Love and hate is one of these themes and is also the theme that is related to both “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. Both stories use the elements of death, darkness, horror, coldness, dampness, fear, obscurity, and mystery to get the point and theme across. Obsession is shown in “The Tell Tale Heart” by the obsession with the eye even after the narrator killed the old man. Obsession is shown in “The Cask of Amontillado” with Montresor’s obsession with getting back at Fortunato. Another way obsession is shown is in way Montresor’s holds a grudge on Fortunato just because he insulted him once. Everything Edgar Allan Poe has written in these short stories was put there for a reason. So every sign that points towards the theme being love and hate was put there to show
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are
Poe presents the narrators of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado" as devious, obsessed characters. Both are overpowered by the need to consume the life of their victim. Though they use different strategies to carry out the murders in different ways, obsession is the driving force in both. It is this obsession that inspires them to design cunning strategies and carry out the executions.
“The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, all have common motifs; death, fear or terror, and madness. Each story has their own special way of showing the three different motifs. In all three stories these three motifs were connected in some way. Someone was afraid of something or someone, which drove them mad, which led them to kill someone. In the case of “The Cask of Amontillado” death was caused by revenge, and hate. Death, fear and madness are all common themes in a lot of Poe's work. They add depth and different perspectives to look at things from. They all make the stories what they are.
“The Cask of Amontillado” is a dark piece, much like other works of Edgar Allan Poe, and features the classic unreliable narrator, identified by himself only as Montresor. This sinister central character is a cold ruthless killer that is particularly fearsome because he views murder as a necessity and kills without remorse. Montresor is a character who personifies wickedness. Poe uses this character and his morally wrong thoughts and actions to help the reader identify with aspects of the extreme personage, allowing them to examine the less savory aspects of their own. The character of Montresor detailing the glorious murder he committed is a means of communicating to the reader that vengeance and pride are moral motivators that lead to treacherous deeds and dark thoughts.
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go to great lengths to fanatically defend their honor.
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe is a short story told in the gothic genre. Although this story was written decades after the popularity of the genre, The gothic genre through its descriptions of the atmosphere as well as its use of grotesque and macabre imagery creates a sense of alienation, chaos, entrapment, uncertainty, and terror in the reader. Gothic literature often deals with themes of death, fears and anxieties, good vs evil, estrangement, and revenge. Furthermore, gothic literature often ends with a sense of moral closure and resolution. The Cask of Amontillado use of gothic conventions can be seen in its setting. However, the story’s unconventional use of irony and omission of moral closure adds to the psychological
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a frightening and entertaining short story about the severe consequences that result from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe’s excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for a dark and sinister plot of murder to unfold. “The Cask of Amontillado” simply overflows with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe’s Gothic style of writing. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominant the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism.