Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories are some of the best-known in the literary world, but they are also some of the easiest to recognize if you pay attention not only to his particular style and the infamous sense of dread and claustrophobia that are usually associated to his works, but also to the pattern of repeated themes and motifs. In most of his stories you will find references to elements such as sounds, illness and circularity, among many others. This paper sets out to analyze these motifs and their repetition using three of his stories as main sources: “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Masque of the Red Death”.

Andreea Filip

Author

Andreea Filip holds a BA and an MA from Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava.