The document analyzes the themes in Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, highlighting topics such as insanity versus rationality, love and hate, and the human relationship with death. It discusses how Poe's characters often grapple with their darker selves and the struggle for power over life and death, while also exploring the psychological complexities of emotions. The analysis illustrates Poe's mastery in depicting the duality of human nature and the narrative power of memory in his works.

1. THEME OF POE'S SHORT STORY
𝑽𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒂 𝑷. 𝑻𝒂𝒅𝒉𝒂
𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔: 𝑴𝑨 (𝑺𝑬𝑴 − 𝟑) 𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒓: 2015
ROLL NO.: 30
𝑷𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓: 𝟏𝟎 (𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆)
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𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐: 𝑫𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉

2. Edger Allen Poe
• Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7,
1849) was an American writer, editor, and literary
critic.
• Poe is best known for his poetry and short
stories, particularly his tales of mystery and
the macabre. (Poe, The Black Cat)
His short stories are:
• “The Fall of the House of Usher”(1839)
• “The Gold Bug” (1843)
• “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1850)
• “The Purloined Letter” (1845)
• “The Cask of Amontillado”(1846)
• “The Black Cat” (1845)

3. THEME OF POE'S SHORT STORY
• Insanity versus rationality
• Obsession
• Man's relationship with death
• The double self
• Love and hate
• Curiosity
• The power of human resolve
• Darkness of human nature and reality
• The power of death over the living

4. INSANITY VERSUS RATIONALITY
• The Insanity is inflicts the main characters in the story to commit the acts
that they do.
• For example: it is the madness of the narrator in “The Tell Tale
Heart” that allows him to murder his beloved employer.
• Irrational desire for kill.
• The actions that Montresor committed against Fortunato are beyond
barbaric.
• Poe's rational characters, who are capable of consciously setting aside
their own emotions in order to logically solve their problems.
• For example: C. Auguste Dupin's skill lies in being able to empathize
with others in order to solve seemingly impossible cases.
“True-nervous- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will
you say that I am mad?” (Poe)

5. LOVE AND HATE
• Psychological complex of two opposite
emotion.
• Poe explores the similarity of love and
hate in many stories, especially in “The
Tell-Tale Heart” and “William Wilson.”
• Love for himself and hatred for rival.
• Poe's protagonists are particularly
detestable because they involve in the
death of someone whom they formerly
loved.
For Ex: “The Tell-Tale Heart”, The narrator
tells the reader how he loves the old men but
hates his “vulture” eye.
Love Hate

6. DARKNESS OF HUMAN NATURE AND REALITY
• Human are not ready to accept reality.
• Victim are the protagonist.
• Evil of mind is ultimate reality.
• Negative side is suppressed.
• Law mentality of people , power politics and
weak mindset.
‘One has to think like thief’
• The concept that humanity’s darker side can
represent a source of empowerment and
liberation, was not unique to Poe.
• The Black Cat perhaps examines the dark side
of humans most effectively as it involves
sadistic actions and even murder.

7. MAN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH DEATH
• Death often realize the them as he is
sinner.
For Ex : Heart beat.
• Death is overpower on human mind.
• Victim are the protagonist of poe’s
stories.
• Death character are somewhere their
relatives.
• Due to murder alive has to suffer.
• Dead character becomes ghost like
figure in the mind of person.

8. THE DOUBLE SELF
• The use of literary doubles, or doppelgängers, is a common theme in the
works of Edgar Allan Poe.
• Poe approaches the concept of a double self in two ways.
1. Destructive model.
2. Receptivity
• A struggle between the two sides of the character, in which only one side
can be the victor.
• The battle, but his victory comes at the cost of his soul.
• The second model of split identity is best characterized by C. Auguste
Dupin, who is able to reconcile his two sides successfully.
• plots in stories such as “The Cask of Amontillado”, “Ligeia”, and “The Fall
of the House of Usher” revolve around the conflict between a protagonist
and his alter ego or double side.

9. THE POWER OF DEATH OVER THE LIVING
• Poe often gives memory to the power to keep the dead alive
• He distorts this otherwise common place literary theme by
bringing the dead literally back of life, employing memory as the
trigger that reawakens the dead, who are usually women.
For Ex:
“Ligeia” (Ligeia & lady Rowena)
• “Ligeia” breaks down the barrier between life and death
• The memory of the dead shows the power of love to resist even the
permanence of death.
“The Black Cat”
“ The Tell-Tale Heart”

10. • Works Cited
• Poe, Edger Allan. The Black Cat. United state: United States Saturday Post, 1943.
• —. The Tell-Tale Heart. Pioneer: James Russell Lowell, 1843.
•