Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. As a genre, it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole. The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of horror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole’s novel.

The attraction of horror can be understood in such ways. First, horror is like a roller coaster, pleasurable because it lets reader be frightened without being hurt. Second horror urges to let the reader escape the fantasy, and the third horror makes reader learn how to avoid making horrible mistakes. They will be shocked by the horror instantly, but after a few years the frightened feeling will turned into other sights and myths. What’s more important is that horror has little to do with fright. It has more to do with laying down the rules of society and hidden code of behavior. When we get on a roller coaster to ride up and down, we never pay attention to where the tracks really lead. We think we get off at the same place we got on, but that may not be accurate.

So horrible things can bring us aesthetic pleasure, too. Because the descriptions about horror, evil and murdering in the literary works can arouse the feeling of horror and mercy in people’s hearts in the largest extent, and produce the tragic effect, make people feel hair rising, bring us the tragic delight, urge people to reflect on themselves and get experience, thus it achieves the aim of letting out our emotion to get refinement. Like most of Poe’s Gothic fictions, “The Black Cat” ends a horrifying ending: “It fell bodily. The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectator. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to hangman.” The death theme makes the reader feel the mysterious and sober atmosphere. This story purports to illuminate people with a comprehensive and rational perception of real love. And the death of the black cat tells us that our responsibility for others should not vanish. So we get beauty from the horror.

2.2Aristotle’s Theory on the Impact of Tragedy
The horror, pain and evil in gothic fictions not only cause the feeling of terror in the readers’ hearts, but also the mercy of them. Aristotle especially emphasized the two feelings: the feeling of horror and mercy. In the western literary theory and aesthetic history, Aristotle strongly advocated that literary works should represent horror, evil, murder, surprise and he made theoretical discussion to its descriptive value and function. In his poetics, the reason for his emphasizing of the description about this kind of contents lies in that they can cause people’s horror and mercy to the largest extent. “The actions imitated in tragedy not only required to be complete, but also can cause the feeling of horror and mercy. This effect can be produced by various events happening accidentally but having cause and effect relationship between each other. These kinds of events, compared with events happening naturally, are more amazing, plot like this is better. (Aristotle, 2002:82)

According to Aristotle, “Horror and mercy can be caused by image as well as the arrangement of plot’, but “the latter method is better”. (Aristotle, 2002:82)The real tragedy should provide us with “the delight only given by it”, that is, to arouse our feeling of horror and mercy from pain and terror. Because “terror is a kind of painful or bitter mood.”, “mercy is a kind of pain”. (Aristotle, 2002:82) Therefore, he particularly emphasized the tribulation in tragedy and looked it as one of the three important elements of the tragic plot. This tribulation is the destructive or painful action such as death, great pain, hurt or something like this. In order to present pain and make the reader feel painful, the writer’s urgent affair is to study what plots or actions are terrible or pitiful. Aristotle thought that if the necessary murdering happens between enemies, our mercy will not be aroused, and we only feel sorrowful to the person killed. If the killed and the killer are not relatives or enemies, it will not do as well because such action only happens accidentally and has no cause effect relationship. So Aristotle clearly stated: “It will do only when the tribulation takes place between kinfolks such as the killing or the tendency to kill between brothers, son and farther, son and mother or suchlike-events like this are what a poet should pursue.” (Aristotle, 2002:85) 爱伦坡一桶白葡萄酒中的恐怖之美(3):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_3018.html