The Development Of Gothic Novels In Edgar Allan Poe

Poe’s gothic novels break the traditional lining narrative style and produce spiralingeffects. The time experience in his novels considers from the effects first. He used differentmethods to extend the text time and increase the reading time of readers. The plots of hisnovels also show the complexity of different approaches to the effect of art. Poe’s gothicnovels inherited the gothic atmospheres but he is more skilled in producing suspense.Another development of Poe’s gothic novel is the close interaction between narrators,readers and writers. The narrator’s individual monologue will produce a strong sense of thereader’s identification.Poe’s gothic novel shows the pressure and desire from human’s own consciousness.Their motives look more absurd than the traditional gothic villains. We can find the model oftraditional gothic villains from the level of religion and society. The villains have becomemadman in Poe’s gothic novels. They have similar behavior as gothic villains but their sincan’t be explained at the external level. Poe has led us to the deep of human’s heart. Hisnovels successfully discussed the extreme of human beings’ sensitive and mad. Therelationship of the men and women shows a kind of equal status. It can be concluded ascontradiction、interaction、inclination and transformation. Besides, the females in Poe’sgothic novels are different to the traditional gothic characters. They have extreme beauties.Those kinds of beauties show the consideration of Poe to the perfect female image andbeauty of art. Although there are conflictions between men and women, the final effect oftheir relationships is in harmony caused by the arrival of death.Poe has said that his horror type is not “Germanic” but “from the soul”. Nevertheless,Poe’s gothic novel was influenced by the German gothic. He has used many typical Germangothic elements such as double personality, supernaturalism and hypnotism. But the Germangothic elements are just the cover of Poe’s gothic novels. Those elements are put in thesecondary position. The motive and the psychology are the main theme that Poe shows us.The environment has cooperated closely with the human’s psychology. They have become areflection to human’s psychology. Poe’s novel has achieved the transformation from externalhorror to internal horror. Death is the direct source of horror. Poe loves the theme of deathand he has showed the courage to challenge death and surpass death by the descriptions ofhis gothic novels.