At the beginning of the story my opinion of Iokaste is that she is a loyal and good wife. I can see why Iokaste committed suicide and I can understand how devastating the news of her husband being her son was. I can only imagine the emotions that Iokaste was going through and because of this I think that she did what she thought was best for herself. In some ways think she did her children a favor by committing suicide because now her children won’t have to grow up hearing people talk badly about their mother but on the other hand she left them to fend for themselves, which I think no mother should do to her children.…
The short stories “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” both by Edgar Allen Poe have many similarities as well as differences. The theme of death is very apparent when making a comparison between the two short stories. Though the terms of death differ greatly between the two stories, the aspect of death is a prevalent focus in both pieces of literature. In this essay I will compare and contrast the stories “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” in regards to the aspect of death that is apparent in both pieces of work.…
In Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”, the color of the most eastern and most western chamber are significance to the message of the story. In Roppolo’s Literary Criticism, he explains, “To Blair, as to many others, there is ‘allegorical signification’ in the seven rooms, which, ‘progressing from east to west—from blue to black—connote the seven ages of man from the blue of the dawn of life to the black of its night.’” The message Poe presents is that no living thing can avoid its fate of death no matter how it tries to protect itself or escape it. The blue most eastern chamber represents the birth of dawn and the black velvet and red most western chamber depicts death and night, demonstrating that as Prince Prospero and the guest run through…
In the short story The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Edgar Allan Poe, the protagonist Pym faces many dangerous adventures developing suspenseful scenes. Pym’s good friend Augustus hides Pym below the deck of his father’s whaling boat. The area is very small resembling a coffin. Pym is trapped below deck without enough food or water supply, he faces starvation and delirium. As time continues Pym eventually struggles with breathing due to the lack of air entering the small space. “For some hours past it had been with the greatest difficulty I could breathe at all, and now each attempt at so doing was attended with the most distressing spasmodic action of the chest” (Poe 31). Poe creates suspense as Pym struggles to stay alive, waiting for…
Ralph Emerson once wrote, "Talent alone cannot make the writer. There must be a man behind the book." Edgar Allan Poe acquired the ability to write Gothic horror through the tragedies that existed in his life. At three years old Poe lost his mother and father. Grief and sadness overwhelmed Poe's childhood and eventually his literary style. "By temperament and mournful personal experience, Poe was drawn into the contemporary cult of death" (Kennedy 111-33.) In his shocking and lurid tales of horror, "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Cask of Amontillado," Edgar Allan Poe reveals his obsession with death and suffering through the development of his characters and the shocking situations he exposes.…
Before you read this paper, keep in mind that the name “Poe” brings to mind the images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead.…
In Poe’s story the “The Pit and the Pendulum” he distinctively uses symbolism, repetition, mood and diction to tell a tale of hope over circumstance to make this story come to life for the reader. Unlike the hypersensitive characters from other stories, such as the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” this narrator claims to lose the capacity of sensation during the swoon upon receiving his death sentence that opens the story. This story is different from Poe’s other works such as this narrator remains hopeful in his emotional state; he is able to describe his surroundings while also portraying his emotional chaos. We the readers are not given specific circumstances of his arrest, nor are we given any evidence for his innocence. Although, even without those details he gives us a famous suspense story that is violent and graphic yet hopeful and ethically allusive.…
Poe uses his word choice wisely to make the tone of his short story more horrific to the reader. He uses his word choice in a frightful way to scary or make everything suspenseful like a horror film. An example of Poe’s suspensefulness to illustrate the tone:…
Do you fear death? It can be a terrifying thing. We can prolong it, but we can not escape it. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” is an allegory of how unavoidable death is. There are many visual descriptions in the story to symbolize death. The use of this language and symbolism can be seen in the seventh room, the ebony clock and the fire. In this complex story, Edgar Allan Poe incorporates gob-smacking diction to portray the fearfulness of this “red death” along with vivid imagery of the situation, and symbolism to fully convey that death is inevitable.…
1st Body Paragraph (Diction): Edgar Allen Poe uses diverse styles of diction to impact the reader’s mood in different ways. The connotations of negative words affect the reader’s attitude in a pessimistic manner. “Sick unto death with that long agony” (Poe 4). When Poe begins the narrative, the narrator is in a negative mindset. This aids the audience in getting a feel for what the narrator is actually feeling throughout the course of the narrative. The negative connotation of diction also assists the readers when picking up on the mood of the anecdote. This affects the readers in a negative way because their mood has changed from neutral to somber within the audience.…
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809-October 7, 1849), lived to be 40 years old. During his 40 years of living he had to go through many deaths of his loved ones. In addition, being abandoned by his father and foster father. Poe lost his mother, wife, and foster mother all to tuberculosis. He was devastated, lost and didn’t know what to do. Leading him to attempting suicide after his wife died. Instead of killing himself, he took his agony out in his writings. Edgar Allan Poe wrote approximately sixty-nine stories and poems. It has been seen that Mr. Poe has made a collection of similarities in his stories connecting to what he has gone through in life. As some of his most famous stories “Annabel Lee”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The…
The cause of Poe’s death remains a mystery to be solved. Many have analyzed his life…
14. Poe is a master at creating an eerie, suspenseful mood in his stories. Dig back into the text of this story and write down two lines that help establish this mood. Yes, I want you to write down the full line.…
Death is a common theme in all of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories. In my response, I will describe how Ligeia fits the Gothic genre. One quality of stories in the Gothic genre is mysteriousness. In Ligeia, the narrator must try to figure out how to live his life after the woman he is in love with, Ligeia, passes away. The story takes an interesting twist when her double resurfaces, alluding to the pause of her decay.…
Death. A strong topic, frequently but solemnly discussed. However, when I read Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”, I was immediately captivated by the new angle brought to my attention regarding death. While the topic of death is usually associated with either sympathy or horror, Poe succeeded in portraying a feeling caught between the two; and at the same time bringing forth new feelings I would never thought to consider regarding death. These feelings reflect a sorrow so deep it morphs into a psychological madness, a feeling that the pain death brings has ruined one forever. After analyzing this poem I came to the conclusion that Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” demonstrates that the sorrow the death of a loved one brings will stay with you forever. Poe communicated this theme through abstract language & connotation, tone, and allusion.…