Romanticism

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer points out that in most of Edgar Allan Poe's stories, it is easy to see his fascination with the workings of the mind. The writer notes that his protagonists are usually driven by an emotion, such as anger, jealousy or guilt, and it very rare when their behaviors are clear-cut and easy to decipher. Further, the writer maintains that scholars still debate the psychological makeup of the characters in the two short stories, "The Black Cat," and "The Masque of the Red Death." The writer concludes that in both these stories many questions are left unresolved. The writer claims that by giving just enough information about the protagonists to make them of interest and believable, but not enough information to truly understand their true motives, Poe gives his readers the opportunity to search within themselves to find the answers that best respond to their own psychological needs.

From the Paper:

"Other suggestions for the narrator's actions include the temporary insanity, schizophrenia and the ultimate depravity of mankind. Is any one of these the true motive? No one knows, for sure. Perhaps, even Poe did not know when he wrote the story. Maybe writing his tales was his way of looking at the different types of human motivation leading to intended or unintended results."
"A similar lack of information about motive occurs in "The Masque of Red Death." At first, the psychological motive of Prospero seems quite understandable. He is a selfish man who cares only about his well-being and nothing about others who are dying from the red death. However, there are also literary scholars who say that this story is much more than what it appears to be. Poe may have meant something quite different about Prospero's actions."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Canada, Mark. Poe in His Right Mind. Dissertation. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 1997.
• Frushell, Richard C. " 'An Incarnate Night-Mare': Moral Grotesquerie in 'TheBlack Cat' Poe Studies, (1972) 5.2: 43-44.
• Poe, Edgar Allan. Selected Tales. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Stark, J. "Motive and meaning: The mystery of the will in Poe's 'The Black Cat.'"
• The Mississippi Quarterly (2004) 57.2: 255-264.

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