Edgar Allan Poe, a famous poet, wrote many pieces of literature that contain a variety of gothic elements. His art generates an array of feelings within all readers. When Poe was young, his parents died, which left him mentally unstable and depressed. His mental instability is specifically displayed through three of his famous works, The Fall of the House of Usher, “The Raven”, and The Black Cat. In all three of the Gothic pieces written by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe shows the devil in his characters as well as omens to create an atmosphere of mystery and suspense; however, in addition to the devil and omens, The Black Cat also uses a collateral issue to amplify the mystery and suspense that is portrayed.
Poe uses the presence of the devil in his characters to form a
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In The Fall of the House of Usher, many omens are seen. One of the omens is about the appearance and feeling of the house. When the narrator sees the house “a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded [his] spirit" (Poe 3). This is an omen to the bad things that are forthcoming within the walls of the house. In the second piece of literature, “The Raven”, the Raven itself represents many things including an omen. The bird shows up and the narrator calls it the “ominous bird of yore” (Poe 3). It foreshadows the anger that is formed within the narrator while talking to the bird. This eerie bird makes the poem have a lot of uneasiness, which is then transferred to the reader. In the other story by Poe, The Black Cat, also contains omens such as the cat itself. The narrator's wife “regarded all black cats as witches in disguise” (Poe 1). Later in the story, readers see the negative impact the cat seems to have on the narrator. The events confirmed the suspicions of the narrator's wife although he was blind to the wariness. All of these texts conjure up tension and thrilling feelings through omens and warnings scattered throughout