Edgar Allen Poe Psychology

Edgar Allen Poe Psychology

Edgar Allan Poe once stated, “It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.” Although Poe had a rough life growing up, he was able to turn his feelings into praised literary works. He took his experiences and thoughts that came from then and used them to create vivid, alluring stories. In one of his short stories entitled The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe depicts a crippling house where twin brother and sister live. Each of them seems to be plagued with their own physical and mental disabilities. But when an old friend visits, things take a turn for the worst and the brother falls deeper into despair. In the story of The Masque of the Red Death, the prince hides away in his castle with crippling fear as a plague sweeps though the kingdom. Poe enhances each story with psychological disorders and the many breakdowns of the characters that possess them. Edgar Allan Poe portrays an interest in psychological disorders throughout his literary career, which is clearly depicted in the characters of Roderick Usher and Prince Prospero.
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, best known for his tales of mystery. He was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts. He was the second child born to actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. Unfortunately, his father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died a year later from tuberculosis. Poe was then taken to live with a successful Scottish merchant, John Allan. The Allans took Poe in as a foster child and changed his name to Edgar Allan Poe, although they never officially adopted him. John Allan spoiled Poe but also disciplined him very aggressively. In 1815 the family traveled to Britain and Poe went to a grammar school in Irvine, Scotland. He only attended...

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