Edgar Allan Poe Essay How does E.A. Poe explore the themes of horror and obsession in his short stories? In Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories the black cat and The Tell Tale Heart, both terrify the reader by making them believe they are the person going through these terrifying tales, as they believe they can hear the heart pound under the floor boards as in The Tell Tale Heart. Or they feel very cocky as showing the police round the basement 2 – 3 times until it all goes wrong, they feel it was them who committed these awful crimes. In the Black cat short story, it is the madness of the characters that creates the perfect scary story, the man trying to kill the cat and eventually killing his wife. Poe creates an atmosphere of horror by making the reader feel they are the main character, that they have just driven an axe in to there wives head. He wants the reader to feel scared and unsure, to be scared next time they hear a soft beating sound that is unexplainable, to remember the story and haunt you for as long as you live.
