A Study Of Horrible Images In Edgar Allan Poe's Gothic Works From Perspective Of Reception Theory

As a leading representative of American literature during the romantic period,Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his gothic works which unveil the reality and the dark side of society as well as the human's inner desire.A number of scholars have studied Poe's gothic works,but few have covered the horrible images in Poe's gothic works from the perspective of reception theory.Based on reception theory,this thesis aims to study how Poe arouses his readers' interests and impresses them with a profound understanding of his gothic works.This thesis analyzes the horrible images in Poe's gothic works from the perspectives of text and reader under reception theory respectively.From the perspective of text,this thesis studies how Poe combines his aesthetic pursuit and text creation pursuit with the creation of horrible images.From the aspect of reader,the thesis explores how the horrible images stimulate the readers' interests from the readers' expectation;and at the same time,it also discusses how the horrible images meet the readers' requirements on the spiritual level,and influenced by the readers' aesthetic experience.According to the analysis of the horrible images in Poe's gothic works,it comes to the conclusion that the horrible image is the core element conveying horrible beauty in Poe's gothic works,the horrible image is of the typical features of gothic works from the reader's expectation.The blankedness in his works leaves the readers a lot of room for different understanding,which makes Poe's gothic works attractive to the readers,leads the readers to explore the dark side of human beings and the society and brings the readers aesthetic experience within horrible atmosphere.