Edgar Allan Poe does not qualify as a gothic fiction author because in his short stories, the character and conflict do not fit the criteria to make it a gothic story. To start, in some of Poe’s stories, the evil is not always destroyed, but instead takes over the protagonist. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” states that Prince Prospero was killed by the Red Death and then it killed everyone else, and the Red Death “held illimitable dominion over all” (4). In a gothic story, the conflict gets resolved by the evil getting destroyed and the protagonist finds moral success. However, in this story, that does not happen. Prince Prospero gets killed by the Red Death, and the Red Death also kills everyone, holding
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Finally, in addition to not meeting the conflict criteria, “Hop-Frog” does not meet the character criteria either, as Hop-Frog stays reasonable and in control the entire time. The text declares that Hop-Frog explains his plan to murder the king to him while staying in control and not giving it away. He also stays in control when he springs his trap and kills the king and his ministers (6, 10). In gothic literature the protagonist is supposed the start reasonable and in control, and then spin out of control, getting caught in the mysteries of life. Hop-Frog stays in control during the entire story, and never spins out of control, he stays calm and sticks to the plan that he made up. Because Hop-Frog, the protagonist stayed in control and never spun out of control and got caught in the mysteries of life, the story, “Hop Frog”, by Edgar Allan Poe, does not qualify as a gothic story. All in all, Edgar Allan Poe does not qualify as a gothic fiction author because in his short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, the evil is not ultimately destroyed and the protagonist does not find moral success, and in the story “Hop-Frog”, the protagonist becomes evil in the end, so evil is not destroyed, and the character never spins out of control but stays in
Finally, in addition to not meeting the conflict criteria, “Hop-Frog” does not meet the character criteria either, as Hop-Frog stays reasonable and in control the entire time. The text declares that Hop-Frog explains his plan to murder the king to him while staying in control and not giving it away. He also stays in control when he springs his trap and kills the king and his ministers (6, 10). In gothic literature the protagonist is supposed the start reasonable and in control, and then spin out of control, getting caught in the mysteries of life. Hop-Frog stays in control during the entire story, and never spins out of control, he stays calm and sticks to the plan that he made up. Because Hop-Frog, the protagonist stayed in control and never spun out of control and got caught in the mysteries of life, the story, “Hop Frog”, by Edgar Allan Poe, does not qualify as a gothic story. All in all, Edgar Allan Poe does not qualify as a gothic fiction author because in his short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, the evil is not ultimately destroyed and the protagonist does not find moral success, and in the story “Hop-Frog”, the protagonist becomes evil in the end, so evil is not destroyed, and the character never spins out of control but stays in