The Use Of Fear In Edgar Allen Poe's Stories

Edgar Allan Poe used fear to attract his readers into his gothic world. Poe realized that fear intrigues as well as frightens his readers. In The Fall of the House of Usher, The story begins with Roderick Usher already suffering from a severe mental illness, which steadily grows worse as the tale progresses. Roderick dreads the unknowable; he fears precisely what cannot be rationally feared. He fears for no apparent reason.

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. In The Cask of Amontillado one of the main characters named Montressor wanted to get revenge on Fortunado, another main character. Montresor wanted revenge on Fortunado because Fortunado hurt him in 1,000 ways. Montresor leads Fortunado down into the catacombs so he can make his revenge final, which is killing him. When Fortunado gets down there, Montressor walls him up and Fortunado dies.

When reading stories written by Edgar Allan Poe, it is easy to see that Poe is a dark and mysterious author. When comparing “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, and “The Premature Burial” Poe consistently incorporates death, suspense, and mysteries throughout his works. These factors throughout Poe’s short stories are seen as one is about a death that occurs during a carnival in the Montresor's home that include numerous events that contain mysteries and suspense that lead to the final possible death of Fortunato. Another is about the deaths that occur when the Red Death makes a presence at a party located inside the castellated abbey. The number of events that occur before the Red Death approaches are also suspenseful

Poe is thought to be one of the most successful writers of horror. This is right in terms of his stories that he had written. The best examples could be “The Cask of Amontillado and “The Tell Tale Heart”. These stories were written in the view of murderers and are first person-limited. And these stories have both similarities and differences by means of themes, motifs, symbolism.

The narrator is not only the storyteller of The Masque of the Red Death, but also a guest that was killed in the process of this escape from death. As Poe shapes the narrator through words, his use of very melancholic, mysterious, and painful words also foreshadows a mass massacre in the castle. The author’s diction, the way the he or she writes, can create a sense of many different moods in the story. Poe in The Masque of the Red Death uses a negative diction.

In the early to mid 1800s, there lived a man who experienced copious amounts of unfortunate events. His parents dying before he was three years old, his being separated from his remaining family at a young age, and his wife dying at the age of 25 from Tuberculosis, Edgar Allan Poe had endured many hardships which he later used as inspiration in his works (Poets). In his tales, it is obvious he uses his own feelings of loneliness and anguish to make the reader experience a sense of his own depression as they are reading. Edgar Allan Poe, with the adoption of labyrinthine word choice and the motifs of death and decay, develops truly ominous tones in his prose and poetry. Poe manages to create entire stories with words of dark and horrific

The author's choice of words helps create the mood of shock because he describes Montresor’s actions after Fortunato gets a sense of what is being done to him. The author’s description keeps readers in shock because they can’t believe how cold Montresor was. Even though he never showed the side of him, he had it all along. The author’s use of words in the description makes the readers feel like they are in the story wondering what will happen next. Poe wanted the reader to understand what was going on in the “Cask of Amontillado”, so he wrote a detailed story choosing words that connected with his readers.

In Poe’s stories, the main characters experience fear, but they all handle it distinctively. Poe uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to show how fear affects the narrator’s mindset, along with their future.     In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of Red Death”, the main characters try to isolate themselves from evil, but Poe uses irony to show that death is inevitable.

Luring an unsuspecting rival into the deep catacombs of the Montresor family and eventually resulting in an inhuman death, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” stands out from contemporary “mystery” in that instead of leaving the reader asking “who” and “how,” The Cask of Amontillado spurs the relevant question “why” (Baraban 47). Composed in 1846 shortly after Poe rose to fame due to a complexly written poem,: “Poe envied the success of lesser writers and entangled himself in bitter battles with these rivals, which lead to his banishment from the New York and New England literary circles” (Poe 390). Throughout the narrative discussion between Montresor and Fortunato indicate the wealthy aristocratic lineage of Montresor’s family, however

In the story Montresor states, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe p174). This leaves a lack of explanation for his revenge, making the readers question why he wants to kill Fortunato so badly. Another way the suspense is heightened is Montresor’s obvious mocking and manipulation of Fortunado. The close friendship between Montresor and Fortunato also adds suspense to the readers. Montresor’s sarcasm and wanting to do evil things, manipulates Fortunado, which leads to the creation of a creepy villain which increases the suspense.

The scary tone has a trend through all of his stories which makes the reader more engaged. In “The Tell Tale Heart” Poe talks about death and how an eye viewed as, “an evil eye” could cause someone to kill. It took some time, but Poe lead the whole story up to the gruesome murder scene. “First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and then the legs.

Throughout “The Fall of the House of Usher,” metaphor and symbolism are heavily relied upon to express the extent of the madness that resides within the Usher House. In the short story, Poe creates a symbolic parallel between the art and stories that are seen and told. It can be implied, from a painting, in the Usher house, that Lady Madeline Usher is still alive. The reader can also imply that there is a hidden tunnel or room under the entirety of the house. “The Mad Trist” indirectly tells the reader of Lady Madeline’s escape from the tomb she had been placed in.

“ The Fall of the House of Usher “ by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story about a man named Roderick Usher who initiates some events such as evoking his friend The Narrator as a protagonist to the dreadful mansion. The images such as the house and gothic ambience are used to reinforce the idea of giving the mystery to the reader. Edgar Allan Poe uses gothic elements to show how they affect the atmosphere and the characters. In the beginning , the gothic atmosphere of the house is indicated with terrifying images such as “ dull, dark and soundless ” that the feeling of horror vaccinated into reader by the thoughts of the narrator.

After, Edgar Allan Poe died his rival Rufus Griswold, decided to expose and criticize his work worldwide. But instead he continued Edgar Allan Poe’s fame by making a world wide spread throughout. Inside the article it even proclaims how far horror has come from Edgar Allan Poe by explaining “Today, Poe is recognized as one of the foremost progenitors of modern literature, such as horror and detective fiction, which represent the essential artistic manner of the twentieth century” (Edgar Allen). This bluntly explains how horror is very much included in daily life still continuing in our society and how well people indulge into this theme. Edgar Allen Poe was able to relate common lifestyle to his stories creating people to have some relation towards some of his stories.

Poe’s focus on the thoughts and emotions surrounding the protagonist, while providing few physical details of the events, gives the reader a psychological thrill as they are drawn into the mind of a