摘 要

《厄舍府的倒塌》和《一桶白葡萄酒》是爱伦·坡的两部经典短篇小说。前人对爱伦·坡短篇小说的死亡主题的研究已经持续了很多年并且足够深入，但活埋作为死亡的一种方式，虽然多次出现在爱伦·坡的短篇小说中，却并未引起评论家们很大的注意。本文将从活埋这一独特的情节入手，分析爱伦·坡小说中的活埋对其作品的恐怖效果营造及主题凸显的贡献。

本论文旨在分析爱伦·坡短篇小说中的活埋情节，选取其经典短篇小说《厄舍府的倒塌》和《一桶白葡萄酒》两部作品，从导致活埋的原因、活埋的封闭环境、活埋的具体过程、活埋所揭示的主题来深入分析活埋这一独特的爱伦·坡式情节。通过这些分析，使读者更切身地体会爱伦·坡小说的恐怖特征，对作品的主题有更深悟的领会并了解爱伦·坡短篇恐怖小说独特且经久不衰的艺术魅力和坡的文学天赋。

关键词：爱伦·坡；《厄舍府的倒塌》；《一桶白葡萄酒》；活埋；情节

Contents

1. Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration --------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.1 The reasons causing “burying alive” -----------------------------------------------------4

2.1.1 Internal reasons: influence of the theory of Freudianism ---------------------------4

2.1.2 External reasons --------------------------------------------------------------------------6

2.1.2.1 The effect of a decadent house -------------------------------------------------------6

2.1.2.2 The catalysis of family motto and family heraldry --------------------------------7

2.2 The environment of burying ---------------------------------------------------------------8

2.2.1 The deep vault of the House of Usher -------------------------------------------------8

2.2.2 The deep crypt of Montresor’ s ---------------------------------------------------------8

2.2.3 The common feature: the confined space with gothic beauty ----------------------9

2.3 The process of burying ---------------------------------------------------------------------9

2.3.1 Burying under the unconsciousness --------------------------------------------------10

2.3.2 Burying under the meticulous design -------------------------------------------------10

2.4 The revelation of burying -----------------------------------------------------------------11

2.4.1 The revolt of the people who are buried alive ---------------------------------------11

2.4.1.1 Madeline---revolt against patriarchy -----------------------------------------------11

2.4.1.2 Fortunato--- revolt against the dark side of human nature ----------------------12

2.4.2 The tragedy of the people who bury others ------------------------------------------13

2.4.2.1 Roderick--- the pursuit of his own death ------------------------------------------13

2.4.2.2 Montresor--- the struggle of a declining aristocrat -------------------------------13

3. Conclusion -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

Works Cited -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16

Bibliography ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------17

On the Plot of “Burying Alive” in Edgar Allan Poe’ s Short Stories

1. Introduction

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is a famous American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic in the 19^th century. His poetry and horrible novel are rich in the features of romanticism. But different from other romantic writers, Poe reveals the darkness of human nature in his works. Poe is also a pioneer of mystery novels and American Gothic stories. Most of his works have gothic elements and they also reflect the psychological state of characters.

Poe was born in Boston in 1809. He was the second child of two actors. But soon his father left home and his mother died. He was adopted by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. In 1815 to 1820, John Allan established a branch bank in Scotland so they moved to Scotland. In 1820, they returned to Richmond and Poe attended a private school. In 1826, Poe was enrolled by the University of Virginia and was good at classical languages and contemporary languages. But soon he left it to join the army. In this period, he persuaded a young publisher to print his first book Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827) with the signature of “A Bostonian”. Later, Poe failed to be an officer cadet and showed a firm wish to be a poet and writer. Poe switched his focus to prose creation and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals and had his own style of literary criticism. In 1838, Poe published the short story Ligeia which was considered by himself his best short story. He continued to be a free-lance writer but was too poor to support his family. He even wanted to give up his career as a writer. In 1839, Poe worked for a small magazine and published The Fall of the House of Usher and William Wilson. He became the editor of Graham Magazine and published the first whodunit The Murders in the Rue Morgue and got acquainted with some other writers. In 1845, Poe published the poem The Raven and got a great reputation. In 1849, he was active as a writer and orator, but in October he died of cerebral hemorrhage.