Edgar Allan Poe Themes

The american author was known for his use of themes, such as death, horror,women and guilt. Each theme was written about with his use of gothic style. Edgar allan Poe was consistently surrounded by death, including the death of his mother, as well as his wife.(biography.com) Much of Poe’s background plays a role in his writing, which is why death was one of his central themes. Dameron writes that throughout many of his works, he has a tendency to focus on death.(13) Tate states states that death can be seen as an inevitable annihilation. For example, in Eureka, Poe explains that everything comes to an end, with an inevitable annihilation created from the beginning. Poe makes it seem as if everything will eventually become nothingness once …show more content…
After a heinous crime or driving themselves insane, the character can no longer deal with their feelings and sees death as an escape. Poe makes death into something special. He makes it into an easing of pain or an escape from everything. (181) The strive for death crosses over multiple works and numerous characters. I feel like there should be a paragraph about death as a whole here. Poe is known for his consistence use of horror across majority of his works. Dameron writes that in “The Cask of Amontillado” Poe is able to express his theme of horror very effectively. The story seems to be about revenge, but upon deeper analyzation, it seems to be about a murderous act that greatly affects the character. The main character seems to be taken over by evil and goes on to kill a person. The aspects of horror in this story are similar to many of his works. (15-16) Elmer explains that during the period in which Poe wrote, the deathbed scene was common, as was a symptathetic story. Edgar allan Poe was able to intertwine both techniques of writing into the theme of horror. Poe would take a sympathetic story and with gothic descriptions, create a horror filled plot. From the sentimentality of his stories came gloom and reoccurring scenes of …show more content…
Edgar Allan Poe made many of his characters mad. (Gargano 179) Poe’s insane characters only make themselves more insane as they try and prove themselves sane. (Gargano 179) Gargano states that his characters grow more insane because of their obsessive natures. (179) Poe constantly wrote stories in which the characters would make themselves go mad. (Gargano 179) After a character commits a heinous crime, the character is usually overcome with an immense feeling if guilt. (Gargano 181) The guilt can come from within or from an external source. Gargano gives the example, in “The Black Cat”, the cat is risen from the dead to harass the narrator about his murdered wife. The same holds true in “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” In both stories, the narrators have to deal with intense guilt and low morale because of their actions upon another person. (181) Poe has made many of his characters have a hard life with numerous inner struggles. (Tate 225) Tate gives the example of “The Raven”, which is a simplistic view at a common Edgar Allan Poe characters fighting with an inner demon.(225) The charcter is forced to reconcile with his inner demons because of the bird coming down and haunting him. (Tate