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Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction 1
Chapter 2. Literature Review 2
2.1 Edgar Allen Poe’s Principles of Creation 2
2.2 Gothic Novels and Horrible Beauty 3
2.3 Previous Studies of Edgar Allen Poe and His Works both at Home and Abroad 4
Chapter 3. Significance of the Study 6
3.1 The Purpose of the Study 6
3.2 The Importance of the Study 6
Chapter 4. The Aspects of the Gothic Horrible Beauty in The Fall of the House of Usher 8
4.1 The Form of the Beauty by Creating Horrible Gothic Atmosphere 8
4.2 The Unique Quality of the Beauty by Shifting from the Conventional Moral Teaching 9
4.3 The Source of the Beauty by Extracting from Real Life and Imaging 10
Chapter 5. Three Ways to Achieve the Horrible Beauty—— An 12
Elaborately-designed Gothic Horror 12
5.1 The Description of the Environment 12
5.2 The Suspenses Aroused by Lady Madeline 14
5.3 The Trans-natural Scenes 15
Chapter 6. Conclusion 16
References 17
Chapter 1. Introduction
Edgar Allen Poe, an American poet, novelist and literature critic in the 19th century, is a figure of great importance in American literary world. As a controversial writer who lived a miserable life full of suffering and passed away at the age of forty, Poe obtained appropriate reputation only after death. In fact, Allen Poe is a respectable writer who devoted all his life to exploring the true beauty which is closely attached to death, horror and mystery. Due to his tragic life experience, the majority of his short stories are always connected with horrible Gothic environment and artistic death, making him a famous horror fiction writer as well. It is easy to find that the theme of death and the Gothic atmosphere frequently appear in his works, which can be attributed to his aesthetic principles “Death becomes poetic when it is associated with beauty”. (Poe, E. A.,1975)Reading his horror stories, readers are unavoidably exposed to the dark, gloomy, even terrifying Gothic atmosphere and can not help indulging themselves in the character’s feelings and following every subtle or sudden change of the character’s psychology. It is widely acknowledged that Allen Poe’s most outstanding achievement lies in his distinctive short stories that are full of fantastic imaginations, thus he is also honored the title “father of detective fictions”. (Hobson,1969)Though Poe creates works by using imaginations like many other writers, his style of imagination is totally different. Other writers prefer to depict hopeful dreams, but Poe has a strong passion for weaving astonishing and scaring nightmares.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” is one of Poe’s most prominent horrible stories. In this story, the elaborate description of the typical Gothic environment pervades every corner of that particular space including the outside of the old house, the corridor, the rooms, the corpse and the stormy night. Characters and plots are put in a series elaborately-arranged scenes in which every detail makes contribution to the queer, terrifying Gothic atmosphere. The word “Gothic ” is always associated with dark, horrible atmosphere which is definitely the primary cause to make the story impressive and unforgettable. And in Poe’s opinion, he deeply believes that the most beautiful and impressive thing is death. In order to vent his grave depression and alleviate his great agony resulted from the loss of his kinsfolk and health, Poe chose to write Gothic novels. Gothic story, which usually happens in an old castle with mysterious underground passages, is a mixture of romanticism and realism, and it combines science with myth. The sense of horror in Poe’s Gothic stories manages to keep characters and readers stay in a high sense of anxiety. With the background of a piece of Gothic building, the design of incredible plot , the great efforts to portray details , Allen Poe makes full use of Gothic style in a sophisticated way to evoke readers’ excitement and reflection.