While some have referred to Poe as an outlier in the framework of the Gothic novel, the elements of this subgenre are explicitly and precisely executed in this short story. What makes this particular experience of terror different from the typical Gothic novel is the reader’s experience of terror on a heightened level due to the character, Fortunato’s inability to foresee any of the clues of his inevitable demise. Aspects of terror and horror are utilized in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Cask of Amontillado.” Terror causes an intense sensory overload, while horror suspends the senses due to a state of fright, which blurs the individual’s ability to react. Radcliffe’s definition is integral to understanding the different levels in which these aspects, terror and horror, function on a sensory, emotional, and physiological level. Differentiating “Terror,” from “Horror” Example of “Terror.” The twin girls from Stephen King’s The Shining that foreshadow the evil, or horror, to come.Īccording to Anne Radcliffe: “Terror and horror…are so far opposite, that the first expands the soul, and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life the other contracts, freezes, and nearly annihilates them” (Varma 3). Terror builds up a state of emotions whereas horror leads to the combustion of rationality with the impossible becoming a tangible, undeniable reality. Horror, on the other hand, is the moment of confrontation when the intangible the feared spirit, or villain, becomes an undeniable truth. A key component of terror is the intangible element that causes these emotions while creating a realization of the lack of control experienced in one’s surroundings. Terror is the state of apprehension, dread, unknowing, and intense fear. When observing the formulaic components of the Gothic novel it is difficult to dismiss either of these aspects as identical or capable of evoking the same form of emotions. However, these terms are commonly used in an interchangeable manner. Terror and horror are integral components of the Gothic novel. Terror and Horror in Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe
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