Analysis Of Gothic Elements In Edgar Allan Poe’s Works

Since the appearance of Gothic novels in the end of the18thcentury, GothicElements are continually applied into literary creations. Among Gothic Elements, thecombination of horror elements and beauty elements are more and more popularnowadays. Generally speaking, Gothic Elements can endow readers with a considerableimagination space in which readers can experience the pressure brought by horror but atthe same time can appreciate and aftertaste the works. It is not the pure horror but thefeeling of beauty and the interpretation of life that the Gothic Elements intent to express.When appreciating these kinds of works, readers can not only experience the stimulationbrought by horror but also tend to lose themselves in the deep thought about lives. Asburgeoning creation elements, Gothic Elements are widely used in many aspects such asnovel, film, music and it received an extensive popularity and loved by modern people inrecent years. There are many writers whose works contain the Gothic Elements of horrorand beauty, Edgar Allan Poe is one of them. As a famous poet, novelist and literaturecritic in American literary history, Edgar Allan Poe has achieved unique attainments andachievements in poem, novel and literature criticism. Edgar Allan Poe’s thoughts andworks have also influenced the literature tide in his time and influenced manyextraordinary literature masters such as Conan Doyle and Charles Baudelaire. But inPoe’s period, he suffered a great different evaluation: huge castigation in his motherlandAmerican but a widely praise from critics in other countries. Until now, Poe and hisworks are still the targets of critic’s controversy. There are many studies about Poe in theworldwide scope while most of which are based on the analysis of his works from theperspective of horror, but this thesis has its unique innovation point. This thesis not onlydiscussed the horror aspect of Poe’s works but also explored the embodiment ofaesthetics. This thesis will start from analyzing the combination of horror and beauty inGothic Elements and interpret how it is embodied in Poe’s works.This thesis contains three parts: introduction, body and conclusion.In the introduction, this thesis firstly introduced Poe and his works, which includedAllan Poe’s important status in the world literature and the combination of the horrificimage and aesthetic conception reflected in Poe’s horror fictions Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher and his poem The Raven. This part reflected Poe’s pursuit of “BeautyAbove” which is corresponding to his Gothic Elements. Secondly, this thesis introducedthe current study on Poe and his works and finally the unique innovation of this thesis.The main body is the principal part of this thesis. The main body can be mainlydivided into the following three chapters:Chapter One is the brief introduction of the embodiment of Gothic Elements. Bymeans of the reflection of Gothic Elements—the combination of aestheticism and GothicStyle, this thesis separately gives an outline of Gothic Style and aestheticism and presentto readers the reasons why Gothic Elements are used in Poe’s works.Chapter Two analyzes how the Gothic Elements are embodied in Poe’s works indetail. This chapter is also the central part of this thesis. How the Gothic Elements arereflected in Allan Poe’s three works which including two novels Ligeia and The Fall ofthe House of Usher and one poem The Raven is discussed in this part. This thesis intendsto present readers a comprehensive knowledge from a different perspective. How thehorror and beauty effects are embodied in Poe’s works and reached a purpose that couldshock readers’ souls are discussed in this thesis.Chapter Three introduced the contemporary significance and the later-ages influenceby the usage of Gothic Elements. In the aspects of practical meaning, this thesis analyzedits contemporary meaning on society and readers at Poe’s time from the usage of GothicElements and also analyzed its influence on later generation from the prosperous of thevampire literature and the horror and beauty elements’ permeation to pop culture.The conclusion formed the final part of this thesis. It is also acted as the summary ofthis thesis. The conclusion part reaffirmed this thesis’ frame and gist. The innovation andthe original creation part lies in discussing the Gothic Elements—a combination of horrorand aesthetic elements to analyze the controversial Allan Poe’s works. By specificallyanalyzing Gothic Elements reflected in Poe’s three works, this thesis intends toacknowledge the readers the current meaning and later-ages influence of GothicElements.From analyzing of the Gothic Elements which embodied in Poe’s works, this thesisintends to provide readers with more reference to Gothic Elements in creation and to adeeper study on Edgar Allan Poe. It is believed that with the further development and the wider usage of these elements, the works which created in Gothic Elements will be moreand more frequently appeared in front of the readers. With the development andprosperity of the combination of horror elements and beauty elements, I hope this thesiscan offer a useful reference to most literature lovers who are devoted to the research ofthese elements and Edgar Allan Poe.