An Analysis Of The Death Theme In Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19,1809-October 7,1849) was a famous American writer,Poe's first short story, "Metzengerstein" was published in1832, during the years 1832 to 1849,poe wrote more than 60 short stories. But, in spite of the different types of his novel, "death" is his main theme.This essay will analyze the structure of the theme and find meaning in his short stories.For death is his main theme,so the essay will take Allan Poe's short novel as a whole to study, take time as clues to study the nuance between the death he has described in different times; and then based on text analyzing trying to unearth the deep structure that lie below the surface structure, to find the same and distinct the differences.This essay has three chapters:In the first part, take "the Black Cat", "William Wilson" and "the Oval Portrait" as example, focus on those leading characters that finally died, and analysis the reasons that causes their death:murder, suicide and ill. Then, by text analyzing, find that the basic reason is the lost of sense, moral and love, and to study how did those three basic reasons play a role. In the second part, take "A Descent into the Maelstrom" and "Ligeia" as example, focus on the other kind of leading character that even they faced death they survived, to study how did sense and will play a key role when they're facing death. In the third part, hold forth such a idea that Allan Poe has a changing complex view on death, and from literary tradition,knowledge and personal record to make an across-the-abroad unscramble on his view on death.