Ally Salazar & Hannah Windham

US History / English 5
Whipple / Cooper
November 12, 2014
Slavery Through Poe and Gothic Literature
America in the early 19th century was a period of antipathy and unease. The
distress the nation was in, and the ethical questioning of its citizens led to the
establishment of American Gothic Romance literature. In particular, the negotiations of
slavery in the states helped to devise this era of writing. Abolitionist groups in the north
saw slavery as irrational and a prejudiced form of human abuse, they conflicted with the
southern states that saw it as a rational manifestation of bargain labor. As the country was
split in two between moral principles and tradition this dispute can be reflected in writing
of Gothic literature through examples of torture and insanity. These ideals constructed the
motif of rational versus irrational commonly seen throughout Gothic literature. 19th
century Gothic writers such as Poe incorporated the disputes of slavery through rational
and irrational ideas in many of his stories.
Growing protests of slavery in the north led to the yearning of more slaves in the
south. Abolitionist groups had started becoming more immersed in their disapprobation
of slavery, creating a strong group to campaign for the freedom of slaves. The defense for
slavery led southerners to justify the constitutional tradition that was becoming
increasingly rejected. Presenting arguments of the Greeks and Romans having slavery
and that the freeing of slaves will only lead to uprising and unemployment across the
country. (us history) Justifications like these of irrational behavior can also be found in
Edgar Allan Poes short story The Tall Tale Heart. Not only when Jefferson was in
office but also his whole life he was consistently opposed to slavery. Believing it was

contrary to the laws of nature and calling it a moral depravity he saw his ideal country
as one without slavery. Jefferson never could have envisioned that slavery would turn out
to be heavily relied upon for the economic prosperity of America. (Thomas Jefferson)
In Poes Gothic short story the motifs of rational versus irrational plays a crucial
role in the characters life. The story about a man who seeks to brutally murder his
companion because of his evil eye so he can rid myself of the eye forever. (Poe 1,2)
The motif of rational versus irrational can be seen through the narrators insistence upon
his sanity and not his innocence. His denial of insanity can be seen in the story where the
narrator says If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the
wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. Providing the reader with a
rational explanation for irrational behavior. (Poe 1,12) The punishment of slaves in
America was not an uncommon thing. In early history southern states such as South
Carolina enacted the Slave Codes, which enabled the beating of slaves through laws such
as Slaves were forbidden to leave the owner's property unless accompanied by a white
person, or with permission. If a slave left the owner's property without permission, "every
white person" was required to chastise them. The rationality of the law contradicts with
the irrational punishment being given to the slave. Poe infused this era of history into
The Tell Tale Heart by comparing the rational explanation to the irrational behavior.
The brutality and maltreatment of slaves in the early 19th century induced the
viewing of black Americans as property and not people. As slaves were auctioned off
they were viewed upon like an animal being examined at dog show with no part of his
body left unexamined. (history) Slave owners whipped and abused their slaves for the
most trivial offenses such as those identified in the slave codes, leaving the slaves with

little to no rights. Southern plantation owners agitation grew as the abolitionists in the
north fought for the equal rights for slaves. The mutilating of plantation slaves can be
portrayed in Poes story The Black Cat, a story of a man who has a passionate love for
animals but succumbs to the darkness of alcohol. The narrator describes his house filled
with an abundant amount of animals who he eventually not only neglected, but ill-used
them. (Poe 6) Sparring his favorite black cat Pluto, he ultimately ends up mercilessly
killing the cat and all the other animals. In Poes story the treatment and abuse of the
animals is a metaphor for the way slaves were treated in the early 19th century. Both of
Poes stories, The Tell Tale Heart and The Black Cat use the defense of sanity to
justify the villainous, irrational murders the characters commit creating the repeated motif
of irrational versus rational.
The Gothic Romance literature was a repercussion of confronting ongoing
conflicts in America. Authors such a Poe used this style of writing to convey the irrational
and rational dispute of slavery in the early 19th century and the moral quarrels between
pro-slavery and abolitionists in the U.S. The use of this particular motif was used to
accommodate the opposing stances on the topic of American slavery and gave way to the
authors own personal views.