Themes In Gothic Literature

Gothic Essay
In gothic literature, emotion is one of the biggest parts of any author’s work. The shorts stories written by Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat”, Richard Matheson’s “Prey”, Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Horacia Quiroga’s “The Feather Pillow” all incorpórate violence and supernatural in their works. The authors present the common themes in order to give a sense of how the characters feel emotionally. Also the common themes allow the readers to feel sympathy for the characters. Violence is a behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Violence was used in the works “The Black Cat”, “Prey”, and “The Devil and Tom Walker”. In “The Black Cat” the main character began taking out his anger on his harmless and helpless cat. “and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish—even Pluto began to experience the effects of my

Supernatural characters were used in the works “The Black Cat, “Prey”, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, and “The Feather Pillow”. In “The Black Cat” the main character saw the ghost of his once beloved cat, whom he murdered. “I approached and saw as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat.”(Poe 2). In “Prey” the girl is chased by an alive and vicious doll, who tries to kill her. “Then the doll was in the shadows, coming at her fast.”(Matheson 5). In “The Devil and Tom Walker” Tom speaks about a multitude of supernatural creatures;witches, goblins, and the devil. “but had been so accustomed to witches and goblins, and tricks of the devil.”(Irving 332). In “The Feather Pillow” there was a surreal monster living in the pillow who slowly sucked the blood out of the girls head. “In the bottom of the pillow, among the feathers, slowly moving its hairy legs, there was a monstrous animal.”(Quiroga