Sin Exposed In Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

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In “The Raven,” by Edgar Allan Poe, the raven that antagonizes the narrator is in actuality, humanity’s great adversary, Satan. He is the devil, the source of all evil and misfortune, and the perpetrator of unreal and surreal realities. “The Raven” is a similitude of how pitiful mankind, the narrator, is pitted against the mighty, dark powers of the devil, the Raven. The narrator’s flight of conversation shows the different approaches of mankind in dealing with the devil, from a respectable interest in knowledge, “Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore” (Poe 48), to death and hell, “And my soul from out that shadow lies floating on the floor / Shall be lifted--nevermore” (Poe 108-109). In the line twenty-four, it is …show more content…

The Bible states that Noah sent forth two birds at the conclusion of the flood: a raven and a dove (Genesis 8:6-7). The dove proved very well to determine the outlying and forthcoming state of the world, while the raven flew off and was not seen again after its initial departure, most likely having met an unfortunate watery demise after not returning to the boat. The raven was known an unclean bird to eat (Leviticus 11:13-15) and therefore subject to the purging destruction of Babylon, which Babylon is synonymous with worldliness and sin (Revelations 18:2), which would also apply to the raven. When the Raven appears, it shows a manner of utmost disregard and great disrespect, similar in aspect to the conniving, hating manners of that old knave, the devil. “In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days yore; / Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or / stayed he” (Poe 37-39). The Raven employs devious tactics and betrays malevolent plans to seemingly disillusion the narrator and drive forth from his frame all sense of familiarity, understanding, and cognition, but instead place within him entirely false and misleading information, fearful doubt, and

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