Edgar Allan Poe sends the horror genre in a new direction that is somewhat different to that of Stokers methods of writing horror. He does so by dealing more with the psychological viewpoint and what´s going on in the characters head rather than the surroundings. In Poe´s writing there is not so much focus on atmosphere but more on characterisation.
In "The tell-tale Heart" we are immediately introduced to a protagonist who has a very nervous and indeed mad state of mind. This is suggested to us as he tells the reader that he hears voices from out of this world:
" I heard all things in heaven…. I heard many things in hell."
He denies his madness and I think that this covering up of his madness is a most definate and obvious sign of madness.
Similarly, in 'The Black Cat´ the protagonist´s mind becomes progressively worse and more perverse through his evident alcohol abuse. In just the same way, he tries to say that he is not mad:
"Yet, mad I am not."
'The Black Cat´ I think also deals with the imagery that Stoker conveyed, not as well as him but he does so in such a fashion that the reader recognises that it is a horror story which they are reading:
"…. Grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyeballs from its socket."
In contrast to Stoker, Poe´s stories involve investigations from the police that lead to the protagonists´ madness being shown full on as, under no pressure, they break down and confess to their crimes. At the beginning of The tell-tale Heart, he tells us that he is cursed with an acuteness of the senses: "…. Of hearing acute." And this is then used later on during his confession. I think that he confesses to it because he can still hear the heart beating under the planks:
" "Villains" I shrieked "dissemble no more! I admit the deed!-tear up the planks!-here, here!-it is the beating of the hideous heart!"
As with 'The Squaw´, I think that there is also revenge on the cats behalf in 'The Black Cat´. It is the cat that has driven him into murder and it is then that cat that allows the police to discover that he has murdered his wife and concealed her in the walls, by wailing out. But, it is his fault for allowing the cat to wail out because it was him, through his belief that he had got away with it and boasting about it, that he hit upon the very same point in the walls where the body was concealed. We saw this mental breakdown in 'The tell-tale Heart´ and now we see it again here. I think that the protagonist shows his willingness not to be caught by after being caught by the police murdering them as well.
In 'The tell-tale Heart´, Poe uses a lot of repetition: "a very, very little crevice", "it grew louder- louder-louder!" and I think that this is to put such an emphasis on it that the reader is made aware of how thorough the murderer is doing things and also to get a sense that you are there at the time with them.
Again a new writer and a new theme, which sends the horror genre in a new direction. H. G. Wells writes about industrialism in horror. In 'The Cone´ we are immediately shown that Raut is having an affair with Horrocks wife and I think that this is apparent to Horrocks. Whilst Horrocks is showing Raut around all the furnaces we are continually told that Horrocks is holding on to Rauts´ arm extremely tightly. Then, as they are crossing the train line I think what we see is Horrocks attempting to murder Raut.
"Horrocks hand suddenly clenched upon him like a vice…. And there were a chain of lamp-lit carriage windows telescoped swiftly as it came towards them."
We get the impression that Horrocks tried to get Raut run over by the train but then we see the opposite:
" I wouldn´t have had you run over for the world."
The reader and Raut now do not know whether or not to trust Horrocks, or suspect him for attempted murder. Is he trying to give Raut a false sense of security? Horrocks talks about the blast furnace as: " white as death" and " red as sin." Again the reader and Raut have to wonder whether this is just coincidence or is Horrocks hinting at something.
When Horrocks and Raut are at the cone and Horrocks is describing it I find it interesting that Horrocks says:
" If you were dropped in it…"
Moments after saying this Horrocks is then trying to kill Raut.
H. G. Wells´ horror is industrial and his horror is not dealt with in the way that people expect horror to be written. He does write horror, but not in the manner that everyone expects, his horror involves the industry and machinery. I think that a good example of this is when he is talking about the cone and he delivers it involving both industry and the horror which people anticipate:
" It will boil the blood out of you in no time."
This is good because he is showing that he can use and industrial machine as a weapon. As with stokers and Poes stories I think that there is revenge for a character in them. In this story the revenge is for Horrocks on Raut for Raut coveting with Horrocks wife. Being thrown into the cone by Horrocks eventually kills Raut. We see Horrocks joy at this and we then also learn that he was killed for his having an affair with Horrocks wife.
" Fizzle you fool! You hunter of women! You hot blooded hound! Boil! Boil! Boil!"
In 'The Lord of the Dynamos´, we see similarities with 'The Cone´. Obviously they are both industrial horror stories, but in them, I think that it is considered that the machines are alive and in 'The Lord of the Dynamos´, even lifelike:
"…. And yet not motionless, but living."
We also see similarities between the three writers writing. I think that both Poes´ and wells characters, especially in 'The tell-tale Heart´ and 'The Lord of the Dynamos´ are mentally very unstable and in fact quite mad. Also in this story asin The Black Cat, one of the characters has a problem with alcohol abuse. Azuma-zi worships the dynamo as his god, which is an obvious sign of madness, as no one would worship a machine:
" He went and whispered to the thundering machine that he was its servant."
The specific differences in this story to the others that we have read are that this story involves religion. The religion being that Azuma-zi thinks that the dynamo is his god. He thinks that the dynamo is going to kill Holroyd for him, and indeed he does. There is a symbolic conflict in this story and the conflict is that of science versus nature.
In the end we have seen the genre of horror develop in three stages; from the early gothic works of Stoker, on to the psychological theme of horror with Poe, and finishing with the industrial horror element of H. G. Wells.