Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most mysterious and remarkable writers of the 19th century, whose artistic heritage has always been readers’ and critics’ concern. Being a representative of the American Romanticism, Poe is also well known as an innovator of new genres of literature (detective-fiction and science fiction genres) and as successful practitioner of the short story. His literature style is considered to be macabre and anxious, and the theme of a death is presented in the most of his short stories, and every time it is inextricably linked with psychological conditions of the heroes. “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “William Wilson” – all of these short stories are the psychological researches or the researches of human consciousness in the moment of the highest tension that irreversibly leads to death.
The works of Edgar Allan Poe had an effect on such famous writers as Oscar Wilde and Howard Phillips Lovecraft, and Poe himself had been getting inspiration from German Romantics, in particularity, from Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman. But if Hoffman used common conditions as a backstage for unusual situations, Edgar Allan Poe took a step further and fully went deep in supernatural. The writer was distinguished by the catastrophic plots, macabre events, sinister environment, general atmosphere of hopelessness and despair, and also by tragic transformations of human consciousness that was terrified and losing control. The different forms and aspects of the death, physical and moral torture, and agony – all of these were researched and analyzed by the author. That is why the core of Poe’s prose heritage is the “scary” tales since they demonstrate the main features of the artistic manner of the writer in the most vivid way; they present the originality and depth of human mind and psyche as well as the abilities of a body and a soul.
In Allan Poe’s short stories the theme of death often intersects with other themes. Thus, the death and resurrection appear in “The Fall of the House of Usher”; the death as a demonstration of the supernatural is presented in “Ligeia”; the death and an art are in “The Oval Portrait”; murders and guilt are the themes of “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat”. The death, sinister figure that always stands behind Poe’s back, is a symbol not only of the end of life, but also of suffer and pain. The author’s category of horror is inextricably linked with the special, individual perception of the death; the element of a man’s inner world description is essential in Poe’s stories – it shows the pain of hero’s soul as a result of disharmony and emptiness.
The stories of Edgar Allan Poe, where inner experiences of the main heroes reach the highest point, are “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “William Wilson” since the psychological oppression of the heroes in every tale in either event leads them to death or to the murder. However, as it was mentioned before, the theme of death (natural or violent) is always intersects with other themes and ideas in order to provide the reader with the details of the full picture and to impress him more. These three short stories were chosen for the analysis due to the presence of the psychological aspects in every tale, which can help to research people’s feelings when they meet with the death or follow their motives when they decide to kill another person.
Thus, “The Masque of the Red Death” presents the death itself, people’s fear of it and, finally, an inevitability of death. Death here is in the form of plague and then in the guise of masquerade’s guest: “The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat” (Poe “The Masque of the Red Death” 3). The people’s fear of the death is presented with the help of the unconscious anxiety of guests during the bell of the clocks: “while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation” (Poe “The Masque of the Red Death” 2). No matter how much people want to save their lives, fatality will reach them, says Poe: “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all” (Poe “The Masque of the Red Death” 4).
Another short story that describes the essence of a man is “The Cask of Amontillado”, but it also opens the psychology of the motives for murder, and in this work such a motive is revenge. Montresor hankers to avenge Fortunato for his insults since they were too offensive. Plan of the revenge was well-thought by Montresor and the ruthless punishment of his offensive were chosen: the main hero walled up drunk Fortunato alive. Throughout the whole story, the reader can feel Montresor’s ardent desire to punish his abuser, this desire was so strong that the main hero had been spending a lot of time during making the worthy punishment; it literally was his obsession. Thereby, the theme of death here rises in the context of man’s desire for revenge, and the severest revenge, according to Poe, is a murder with the help of horrible methods.
The main theme of the “William Wilson” is not the death, but rather the doppelganger. The main hero who prefers to name himself as William Wilson meets the man who has the same name, the same appearance and tries to imitate the main hero in everything, even in clothes or behavior: “If we had been bothers we must have been twins” (Poe “William Wilson”). The double’s strange persecution of William Wilson lasts for a quite long time - from the school time till university, from London to Moscow – the “twin” of Wilson was everywhere. Although the main theme of this story is, perhaps, a split personality, it should be followed to what consequences it has led. Unable to withstand the obsessive and scaring persecution, William Wilson has lost control for some time and killed the double. Thereby, the psychological drama of the main hero made him murder the one who caused this drama and furthermore, the mysterious final of the story does not allow the reader to found out whether William Wilson killed himself or the part of his consciousness or, even so, his double: “A large mirror now stood where none had beenbefore; and, as I stepped up to it, mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood, advanced to meet me In me didst thou exist – and, in my death , which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself” (Poe “William Wilson”).
In order to develop the theme of every tale, and the theme of death particularly, Poe resorts to untraditional methods. For instance, the author did not make precise plot, neither linear nor nonlinear; that is why the plot in its common understanding is missing; instead of events, the feelings and presentiments are presented, hence, fantastical events, which are provided by Poe, now get quite rational explanations. Along with the missing plot, the main subject in Poe’s short stories becomes the human soul, the state of human mind and the moral consciousness of the person. Therefore, in “The Masque of the Red Death” the reader finds sense of the story from the masquerade and guests’ minute fear during the bell of the clocks; “The Cask of Amontillado” is filled with the sense due to the hero’s feeling of revenge; and “William Wilson” is based on the hero’s reflections on the double’s behavior. Further, the missing plot is not the only element that helps the reader to focus on the theme of the story – there are also several other methods which were used by the writer in order to develop the theme of unusual deaths.
Edgar Allan Poe in his works often used a grotesque – he represented the death behind the mask of bacchanalia, masquerade, carnival or buffoonery; he hid terrible and fatal behind the mask of funny and frivolous. At that moment, when plague of Red Death killed all people in Prince Prospero’s abbey, the masquerade was holding: “There were buffoons, improvisatori, ballet-dancers, musicians, Beauty, [and] wine” (Poe “The Masque of the Red Death” 1). The death reached the guests when they did not expect it – in the moment of fete. The similar situation is presented in the other two stories - “The Cask of Amontillado” and “William Wilson” – Montresor and William killed their victims during the carnivals. This decision of the writer can be characterized as the idea of tragicomedy – the compound of the moments of the people’s highest pleasure and their highest fear – the death during the holiday. Therefore, the author used the element of grotesque in order to show that death can occur in the most sudden moments, it can be hidden behind the masquerade mask, it can come as long as the man is drunk during the carnival as well as it can reach the man at the ball in Rome.
Another characteristic of Poe’s representation of death is mystery. Generally, the whole artistic heritage of Edgar Allan Poe is permeated by the mysterious events, details and elements; that is why, it will be logically to conclude that the most favorite theme of the author – the theme of death – is always filled with the mystery and enigma. Among the three short stories that were taken for the analysis, “The Masque of the Red Death” is the one where the theme of mystery death is presented the most vividly: the masks and costumes themselves create the enigmatic atmosphere, and the emergence of the “Masque of the Red Death” is especially shrouded in secrecy. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the mystery lies in the unknown motives of Montresor’s revenge; the narrator tells about the insults that he has been suffering from, however, he does not mention the character of these insults or any other details: “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat” (Poe “The Cask of Amontillado” 3). Hence, the reader will never know whether poor Fortunato deserves the murder or not.
The enigma of “William Wilson” appears in the context of strange chasing; during the whole story the narrator, hence the reader, cannot find out any reason why does the double of Wilson imitate him in everything and always interfere with his private life: “And again, and again, in secret communication with my own spirit, would I demand the questions “Who is he? – whence came he? – and what are his objects? But no answer was there found” (Poe “William Wilson”). Therefore, the narrator, driven to despair because of this mystery, was forced to kill the one who caused all his psychological sufferings.
Poe’s short stories, which are without clear plot, though have always a vivid description of the concrete place where the events occur. A continent, country or locality where the events take place is often unknown. And this decision is significant since geographical details in the psychological stories tell the author as well as the reader nothing. In such tales the spatial characteristics of another type are more important: macabre catacombs in “The Cask of Amontillado”; glum and ruining house of Ushers; room in the tower of the abbey (“Ligeia”); strict solitude in the estate (“Morella”); camera of inquisition (“The Pit and the Pendulum”); the building of the school (“William Wilson”); and, finally, multiple single-toned rooms in the abbey (“The Masque of the Red Death”). These descriptions of the concrete houses, rooms and catacombs are extremely detailed as if the writer wanted to turn the reader’s attention to the place where the death would occur. Thereby, Poe’s theme of the death as a result of psychological tension of the heroes is supported by the detailed image of the place of event.
Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most fascinating writers of the 19th century, still remains as some kind of enigma for the modern researchers. His works are permeated with mystery, macabre and supernatural, and one of the common themes that the author used for his short stories is the theme of death. Moreover, the death, according to Poe, is inextricably linked with the person’s inner world, that is why it is so essential to pay attention to the psychological anxieties of the heroes. The “scaring”, according to Poe, is always something internal that is connected with the specificity of the psyche of the heroes and possibly can be caused by its disorder - it is the fear of the lonely soul, disharmony between sense and emotions, inner emptiness and chaos. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the psychological motive for the murder is the unrestrained desire for revenge; “William Wilson” presents the inability of the hero to understand the strange chasing by the double that ends with the killing; and in “The Masque of the Red Death” the death is shown as an inevitable phenomenon, and the subconscious fears of the masquerade guests prove it. The theme of the death is often intersects with other themes in one story, and it always deepens with the help of grotesque, mystery and description of the place – these all support the complete picture of each psychological short story.
Works cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. William Wilson. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. < http://pinkmonkey.com >
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Masque of the Red Death. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. < http://www.public.asu.edu >
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Cask of Amontillado. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. < http://www.ibiblio.org >
