The Black Cat Research Paper

Edgar Allan Poe has composed many short stories and poems that prove he is indeed a gothic fiction author. First of all, a short story that he wrote, “The Black Cat,” states, “ ‘I may say an excellently well constructed house. These walls -- are you going, gentlemen? -- these walls are solidly put together;’ and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom” (Poe 5). Critics claim a gothic story revolves around a large, ancient house that conceals a terrible secret. This would be the case in this story. In the short story that Poe composed, there is a man who accidently killed his wife, and hid her corpse inside the wall in the cellar of the house.

In other words, the hosue contained a terrible secret, being the man’s wife’s body was behind the wall, meaning Edgar Allan Poe wrote a gothic story that proves he is a gothic fiction author. Second of all, a narrative, “The Tell-Tale Heart, that Poe wrote claims, “it is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees -- very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (Poe