Edgar Allen Poe is best known as an author of gothic fiction, sometimes also called gothic horror, a genre that became prominent in the 18th century and remained popular throughout the 19th century. Gothic literature is generally understood as a reaction to the emphasis on science, reason, and rationality that characterized the earlier Enlightenment period. Gothic fiction, in contrast, emphasizes supernatural events, dark and macabre themes, and heightened emotions, particularly terror and awe.
The dramatic and grotesque ending of “Hop-Frog” exemplifies many of these gothic characteristics. After Hop-Frog has suspended the King and his counselors from the ceiling of the hall, the narrator states that:
“Ah, ha!” said at length the infuriated jester. “Ah, ha! I begin to see who these people are, now!” Here, pretending to scrutinize the king more closely, he held the flambeau to the flaxen coat which enveloped him, and which instantly burst into a sheet of vivid flame. In less than half a minute the whole eight ourang-outangs were blazing fiercely, amid the shrieks of the multitude who gazed at them from below, horror-stricken, and without the power to render them the slightest assistance.
A festive atmosphere quickly gives way to terror as the men are burned alive before the assembled guests. Poe’s language here emphasizes the sense of gothic horror, noting the “shrieks of the multitude” and their “horror-stricken” faces.
