During the late medieval period in Europe, authors used a writing style that reflects the gothic architecture and created horror stories that are still taught to students throughout the world. One author is Edgar Allen Poe. Poe wrote many gothic literatures such as “The Black Cat” and “The Masque of the Red Death”. In each story, there are characteristics that distinguish gothic literature. “The Black Cat” and “The Masque of the Red Death”, both written by Edgar Allen Poe, are examples of gothic horror literature because they include characteristics such as highly charged emotional states, unexplainable occurrences, and isolated locations. “The Black Cat” is an example of gothic literature because it includes unexplainable occurrences and …show more content…
To keep his friends safe from the red death, Prince Prospero kept them in quarantine in his castle. Poe explains how “... he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys” (1). Everyone convened and isolated themselves in Prince Prospero’s castle, so no one could get it and no one could get out. Another gothic characteristic found in “The Masque of the Red Death” is unexplainable occurrences. In the story, the people isolated in the castle had a party. However, during the party at each hour, “... the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause... to hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions” (Poe 3). With each hour’s arrival everyone at the party stopped moving and became frightened; consequently, there was no reason given to explain how this happened; therefore, it was an unexplainable occurrence. “The Masque of the Red Death” is an example of gothic horror literature because Edgar Allen Poe used characteristics of gothic horror such as unexplainable occurrences and isolated locations in his short