The Gothic Elements in Edgar Allan Poe’s selected short stories: The Black Cat, The Tell Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado

Abstract

"This thesis was conducted aiming at investigating the Gothic elements in three short stories: The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe. The discussion on the Gothic elements in three short stories by Edgar Allan Poe was based on the knowledge of literary criticism which helped students gain a more understanding of the significance of the use of Gothic elements reflected in these literary pieces. The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado were used to explore (1) “the definition and features of Gothic”, (2) “the Gothic elements in these three short stories”, (3) “comparison and analysis of Gothic elements”, (4) “the significance of using Gothic elements”, (5) “the combination of Gothic elements and dark romanticism in The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado”, and (6) “make sense the tone and mood of the use of Gothic elements”. Hence, this study also discovered how literary scholars discuss the significance of Gothic elements in these short stories through a theory-based literary overview approach. The results of a review of the literature showed that many researchers had pointed to the macabre and gothic details of the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Furthermore, the researchers also illustrated the significance of Gothic elements in The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado written by Edgar Allan Poe brought to the world of Gothic literature. In addition, there were claims regarding the opinions of literary researchers that the Gothic elements in Edgar Allan Poe's short stories evoked dark romanticism and Gothic horror tone and mood. Since then, the Gothic elements of Edgar Allan Poe's stories had brought a breath of fresh air to the perspectives of the young protagonists in the works and unforgettable impressions on scholars."