Abstract: The themes of most Edgar Allan Poe’s fiction are about death, murder and revenge. As a famous American short story writer, Allan Poe does not only inherit from traditional tricks of gothic fiction, but also develops the relative writing skills which can bring more suspense and psychological horror. This thesis is based on the analysis of three of his works: “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, and “The Black Cat” among which horror plays an indispensable role and has significant symbolic meanings. After giving an introduction to Edgar Allan Poe and three short stories, this thesis then discusses Poe’s inheritage from the Gothic fiction tradition and his contribution to its development; and then the main body of the thesis analyzes the most important horror factors in the stories, including the surroundings, the use of first-person narrator, and the mental world of the characters, so as to show the brilliant writing skills of the author and the significant meanings of horror factor in his gothic fiction.
Key words: Edgar Allan Poe; gothic fiction; horror factors
摘要：埃德加·爱伦·坡的小说大部分以死亡、凶杀、复仇为题材。作为美国著名的短篇小说作家，爱伦·坡不仅继承了哥特式小说的传统手法，而且进一步发挥了其制造悬念和心理恐怖的全部技巧。本文将围绕《厄舍府的倒塌》、《红死病的假面具》及《黑猫》这三部小说进行写作。在这三部作品中，恐怖充当着必不可少的角色，且有着重要的象征意义。本文首先对埃德加·爱伦·坡和他的三篇小说进行简要介绍，然后讨论作者对哥特式小说的继承与发展，最后从故事发生的背景环境，第一人称的运用及人物心理活动三个方面表现作者在哥特式小说方面精湛的创作技巧以及恐怖因素在哥特式小说创作中的重要意义。
关键词：埃德加·爱伦·坡; 哥特式小说; 恐怖因素
