Poe uses setting in his stories in very diverse ways, to develop themes, express a state of mind and to create horror. He uses different types of setting for example physical setting and location, setting of time and setting of the psychological mind of the narrator. These three types of setting work together to produce elements of the genre of gothic literature and also to reflect incidents and influences of Poe’s life. . In a way Poe’s real life reflects the lives of the characters in his stories for example he was a heavy drinker, his marriage was troubled and there were rumours
that he died from rabies.
Poe uses unnatural sounds in his stories to create tension and fear. Some of the sounds he creates are like when he says “dripping walls” or “drops of moisture”. Poe also uses ordinary places to create fear such as the catacombs, vault or under the floorboards.
In all 3 Poe stories the victims face burial, the places of burial differ in all 3. In “The Tell Tale Heart” the narrator bury the old man under the floorboards. In “The Black Cat” the wife’s buried in the walls as in the “Cask of Amontillado”. The immolation in these spaces represents coffins it’s also noticeable that stairs are present in all 3 stories which is like a symbol to a stairway to hell or the underworld. The burials are also symbolic to how the narrator is trying to bury his guilt.
Poe’s use of language encourages links with superstition and evil. In “The Black Cat” the narrator elaborates how his crimes are truly evil.
“…I knew that in so doing I was committing a deadly sin that would so jeopardise my immortal soul as to place it … even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the most merciful and most terrible God”.
The narrator tells each story in first person, allowing the reader to access the mind of the evildoer. The result of this is that you can see inside the mind of the protagonist. The reason that he does this is because it makes you feel like you’re an accomplice to the murder and also you see the main character in “The Black Cat” slowly degenerate into a state of madness. The use of first person also encourages the reader to feel horror and revolution to the protagonists. I think that all three of the stories discussed in this essay have links with superstition and the devil. The use of Poe’s language reinforces the idea of the presence of evil and to suggest that some force is controlling the narrator (also this takes the blame from him). The protagonists all take the law into their own hands which goes against Christian teachings. Some of the language he uses in these stories to show the presence of evil are “Fury of a demon”, “odious pestilence”, “Terror”, “Dreadful” and “Violently”. The title of the story “The black Cat” is related to witches. People believe that someone who posses the evil eye can cause bad happenings and illness, eyes painted on Mediterranean boats reflect this. The evil eye goes against the idea of eyes and vision and is directly mentioned in “The Tell Tale Eye” and blamed for the actions of the murder. He describes the man of having the eye of a vulture and he describes it as being a pale blue eye with a film over it.
The idea of retribution differs in the three stories as in two of the stories, the protagonists are arrested. However in the other story the narrator gets away with his crime. He is smug when he buries Fortunado and parts with the comment “In Pace reguisciat” which means ‘Rest in Peace’. Although he said Rest in Peace he himself will not because he will be judged by God and face hell.
Poe uses setting effectively to create tension and horror in his stories. He makes obvious uses of the gothic genre to bring the feeling of fear alive.
