The Thematic Development Of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories

The present thesis is concerned with Edgar Allan Poe's thematic development as reflected in his short stories standing for different phases. It detects a subtext in each of his representative stories through detailed textual analysis, and the author's employment of Gothic, reliable and weird first-person narrators, purporting to show the author's aim to develop his characters and methods with a generally consummate mastery of technique and style.Owing to the four classifications of Poe's tale, that is, tales of death and horror, detective tales, science fictions and humorous satirical tales, it offers the possibility of studying his works in such approaches as cultural studies, bibliographical studies, source and influence studies, feminism, postmodernism, aestheticism, Gothic as well as psychoanalysis. Although Poe and his works had been almost fully studied and analyzed in the above respects, still there are some fields, for instance, in which way Poe puts his tales together and how and why the themes develop over times, requiring more systematical study.At the beginning part, the thesis gives a brief introduction to Poe and his place in literature. His main literary perspectives are briefly generalized in this part. Next, the thesis through a new angle probes into Poe's religious, moral and social concerns exhibited in his tales and the allegorical ways he uses to achieve his purposes. In the third part of the thesis, Poe's first noticeable thematic development is discussed. It elaborates on Poe's first tentative attempt and successful experiment on analytical and credible tales. Poe makes an unexpected turn to the plot by giving us a detailed description of a 'real' hero, who is so uncharacteristic of Poe's customary method. This sudden turn marks Poe is no longer concerned about the Gothic elements. He has developed a more credible character with human personality. Poe's later creative period is introduced in the next part. Chronologically, Poe's tales have been labeled "supernatural arabesques" and the analytical, and especially the latter have deeply influenced the detective stories. But in Poe's later year the analytical element gradually slips away and the atmosphere grows more and more intense and gloomy. Poe then touches upon weird characters, death and horror, and morbid and uncanny elements. This sudden change comes from Poe's changes of world outlook, so this part also tries to find out the expressions of Poe's outlook in his death tales and horror fictions and the significance of them. A final conclusion will wrap this thesis up.