Abstract Edgar Allan Poe as a famous short story writer in the nineteenth century produces a number of excellent works, among which are poems, short stories and critical works. What he is most famous for is the horror stories. By using the writing technique of mental horror, Poe innovates on the traditional gothic fictions and penetrates into mental world of human beings. Among his works, "The Black Cat" and “The Cask of Amontillado” are considered as the pinnacles of Allan Poe's horror short stories. In these two stories, by depicting horrible scenes, horrible images, and horrible psychological reactions, Poe shows the protagonists’ aberrant personality and extremely cruel acts to readers.29759
Poe is skilled in portraying images in his works, such as gloomy cellars, symbolic animals and dark evenings. Meanwhile, he uses description of scenes as the best tools to create horrible atmosphere. As a result, readers can feel strong depression and fear from the horrible scenes. In addition, strong psychological reactions lead readers to go into the evil human’s inner world and feel intense horror.    
Key Words:  image     scene     psychological reaction     mental horror
摘 要埃德加•爱伦•坡作为19世纪著名的小说家，一生创作了大量作品，其中有诗歌、短篇小说和文学评论等。其中最著名的是坡创作的恐怖小说。在这一类型的文学作品中，坡通过心灵式恐怖这一创作手法，将传统的哥特式小说进行创新,探索人的精神世界。《黑猫》和《一桶白芒提多酒》是坡短篇小说中的代表作品。通过恐怖的场景，恐怖的意象和恐怖的心理活动，坡向读者展现了小说主人公变态的心理以及极其恐怖、残忍的杀人行径。
在坡的小说中意象并不鲜见。阴森恐怖的地窖，富含深刻意义的动物形象，寂静漆黑的夜晚，这些恐怖的意象俯拾皆是。同时，坡将场景作为营造恐怖气愤的绝佳工具，运用外部的场景作为铺垫，使读者感受到强烈的压抑、郁闷以及无法逃脱的恐怖感受。加上对人物心理反应的描写，使读者深入到人类内心的最深处，引发读者内心深处的恐惧。
毕业论文关键词：意象     场景     心理反应     心灵式恐怖
Contents
Abstract.i
摘要ii
Introduction1
Chapter One  Horrible Images.4   
   1. Horrible Images in “The Black Cat”4
2. Horrible Images in “The Cask of Amontillado”.5
Chapter Two  Horrible Scenes8
   1. Horrible Scenes in “The Black Cat”.8    
   2. Horrible Scenes in “The Cask of Amontillado”9
Chapter Three  Horrible Psychological Reactions12
1. Horrible Psychological Reactions in “The Black Cat”….12    
2. Horrible Psychological Reactions in “The Cask of Amontillado”……………14
Conclusion.16
Works Cited.18
Analysis of Mental Horror in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe
Introduction
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is an American short story writer. He starts his short- story production in the early 1830s and becomes one of the most brilliant figures in American literature circle. Poe is one of the earliest American practitioners of short-story production and writing tales of macabre and mystery. In his whole life, he writes more than 70 stories.
“Poe is an extreme pessimistic, he admits the possibility of recognition of God, but announces that the God will input unusual behavior on human beings (Clark 14)”.In his horror stories, Poe uses a lot of Gothic elements. He advocates that the best embodiment of horror is not a large number of external horrors, such as ghosts and blood. It depends on tension, stimulation and horror that readers suffer. Readers feel the evil and horrible spirits of characters through tense, exciting and thrilling plots, horrible images, and mysterious scenes. Edgar Allan Poe says, “If in many of my productions horror has been the thesis, I maintain that horror is not of Germany but of the soul，--that I have deduced this terror only from its legitimate sources, and urged it only to its legitimate results”(Poe 3). 埃德加•爱伦•坡《黑猫》和《一桶白芒提多酒》心理恐怖分析:http://www.youerw.com/huaxue/lunwen_25132.html