The Theme Of Unity Of Effect In Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories

Edgar Allan Poe was extremely perturbed by other famous authors of his time. He believed that there was a radical error in the usual mode of constructing a story, and was convinced that all stories should revolve around a “Unity of Effect”. He stated that a “Unity of Effect” is the point of the greatest importance in a story, and without it, a story would fall apart. Edgar Allan Poe used this in all of his short stories, such as “A Descent Into The Maelström”, where the fight against the maelström was the Unity of Effect in the story. Other examples of clear Unity of Effects take place in “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and “The Premature Burial”. In “A Descent into the Maelström”, the Unity

The conflicts in the story form the Unity of Effect, but they also teach us that we should never do things blindly without preparation. In the rising action, the fishermen notice unusual circumstances, but decide not to pay much attention to them. When the fisherman says, “We never out upon this expedition without a steady side wind for going and coming-one that we felt sure would not fail us before our return-and we seldom made a miscalculation upon this point,” he is assuring us that they did throw caution to the wind, and this resulted in the fight against the maelström (27). The fishermen were warned by nature one last time before being attacked by the maelström in “All at once we were taken aback by a breeze from over Helseggen. This was most unusual-something that had never happened to us before-and I began to feel a little uneasy, without knowing exactly why” (28). They knew that something was wrong, but when they noticed what was happening, it was much too late. In the quote, “It had run down at seven o’clock! We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the Ström was in full fury,” the main fisherman realizes that they had stayed out for too long, and begins to panic as death becomes almost certain (30). The maelström is not only malicious, however, as it has great beauty despite its evilness. In the quote, “I began to reflect how magnificent a thing it was to die in such a manner, and how foolish it was in me to think of so paltry a consideration as my own individual life, in view of so wonderful a manifestation of God’s power,” we observe that the fisherman had an epiphany during the battle against the maelström that changed his outlook on life