Hop Frog by Edgar Allen Poe Hop Frog is a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe during the nineteenth century. The story revolves around an overweight tyrant king with a love for weird, practical jokes. One of the other main characters in this short story is Hop Frog a deformed court jester who aims to seek revenge on the tyrant king and he does this using a very clever, cunning plan. The story of the deformed dwarf and his determination for revenge on his master develops into being Stephen King's favourite Edgar Allen Poe short story. Hop Frog stimulates the mind of the reader. Should the reader interpretate it as being a horror story, where Hop Frog retaliates against the King and Court using drastic measures in order to regain his freedom? Hop Frog was the Kings professional jester, but he was more than a mere jester in the eyes of the King, because he was also a cripple and a dwarf. Dwarfs are very common during this period in time and "most monarchs could not go a day without laughing at his Jester and not laughing at his dwarf". Hop Frog was given his name "by the consent of the seven ministers on account of his inability to walk as other men do". The little mobility that Hop Frog possessed was "between a leap and a riddle", which the King and his ministers felt was very amusing. The prodigious, muscular power that was held in his upper body and arms made up for his crippled legs, this enabled him to perform many magnificent stunts to excite and impress his audience, "by way of compensation for deficiency in the lower limbs, enabled him to perform many feats of wonderful dexterity, where trees and ropes were... ... middle of paper ... ...eless girl, and his seven councillors who abet him in the outrage. As for my self I am simply Hop-Frog, the jester - and this is my last jest". For hundreds of years the small man has been laughed at and scorned. The character that the dwarf emulates in films, on stage in theatres and at the circus is one of humour. We are led to believe that they enjoy to be laughed at, but there is only so much one person can take. Hop Frog had a number of other disabilities and we can feel sympathy and compassion for this individual who has continually suffered. But do we accept that he is justified in taking revenge. At the end of the story we believe that he returns home with his lovely Trippetta. Hop frog has the characteristics of a modern day killer, could he have been an inspiration to modern day writers and directors?
The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado are two stories written by Edgar Allen Poe in the 18th century. Both of these stories are primarily focused on the mysterious and dark ways of the narrator. Since these stories were written by the same author, they tend to have several similarities such as the mood and narrative, but they also have a few differences. For instance, the characteristics of both narrators are different, but both stories portray the same idea of the narrator being obsessive over a certain thing.
The Cask of Amontillado, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is a chilling story about two men named Fortunato and Montresor. The story begins with a narrator voicing his anger and resentment towards a man named Fortunato for “a thousand injuries” and insults. Our narrator sees Fortunato and lures him down into his vaults, or “catacombs,” on the premise of verifying that some wine is a certain type. Fortunato was already drunk, and had a cold. Eventually, the men reach a crypt, and the narrator chains Fortunato to the wall. Not stopping there, the narrator begins to trap him in the hole by filling it with bricks. Fortunato is quiet, until the hole is nearly filled, when he screams and then tells the narrator that it was a good joke. The narrator’s name is revealed to be Montresor. Montresor calmly takes the last brick and prepares to slide it into place, but stops and listens. All he hears are the jingling of bells. Then Montresor puts in the last brick, hence sealing Fotunato’s fate. There is chilling irony woven all throughout The Cask of Amontillado. It isn’t until the end of the story that we discover the tale took place fifty years before. Montresor’s vile deed’s motivation can be largely attributed to social class, fulfilling what he considered to be “just retribution” for the unnamed insult that was given him by Fortunato.
I know you've thought about killing someone, but you're too worried about the consequences. In the short story "Cask of Amontillado" The protagonist, Montresor feels hatred toward this man Fortunato and is determined to get revenge with impunity. In "Lamb to the slaughter" a wife unsure of her feelings murders her husband. The stories are similar because the authors both create a effect of suspense while they use different types of irony and conflicts.
The setting of a story lays the foundation for how a story is constructed. It gives a sense of direction to where the climax is headed. The setting also gives the visual feedback that the readers need to picture themselves into the story and comprehend it better. Determining the setting can be a major element towards drawing in the reader and how they relate to a story. A minor change in the plot can drastically alter to perception, interpretation, and direction of the message that is delivered. These descriptive elements can be found within these short stories: “the Cask of Amontillado”, “The Storm”, “The Things They Carried”, “Everyday Use”, and “The Story of an Hour”.
Similar to many other lively pleasures, humor can only be experienced if it resonates with a person. Without some kind of comprehension, there cannot be any type of reaction. Only once an outlandish statement, inappropriate remark, or unexpected situation, is remotely understood will a person be able to label it comical or sober. Since there are billions of people worldwide with their own languages including it’s respective idioms, euphemisms, the age old saying of “there is truth in every joke” applies to each culture individually.
hero. He is also the king's cousin. He may have been simply fed up if
Typically, a carnival masquerade is celebrated as a joyous and social liberation from the masses of mundane daily activities, but in “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allan Poe, the protagonist Montresor creates a different meaning to the festival for his so-called friend Fortunato. Edgar Allen Poe uses an inventive writing style which sets up a situation in the beginning of the story. He intrigues the reader in the first line of the story when Montresor states that, “...but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe Page 14). In the article, “Poe's The Cask of Amontillado” by John Gruesser, he annotates that, “Montresor has not been so blessed, or as he asserts, he once was, but has lost his status and/or his contentment. To someone who is unfortunate, like Montresor, Fortunato's happiness is a daily injury. Thus, Montresor conceives and executes an ingenious plan, which appears to succeed, for revenging himself on fortune's friend. Sealed in the Montresor family vaults, Fortunato is deprived of everything” (Gruesser Para 3). Poe uses this stylistic writing by providing subtle pieces of information and imagery to draw the reader in, anticipating the rest of what is to come of Montresor's plan for revenge. In a seemingly harmless exchange of words between men, time begins to draw to an end for Fortunato whose naivety and trust in Montressor earns grim fate as some would believe to be his destiny. Montresor, through his pride, became an angry individual and had felt that Fortunato had caused “a thousand injuries” (Poe 14). Overshadowed by his delirious thoughts, Montresor’s deep hatred for Fortunato can be perceived as no more than envy or jealousy. Fortunato, a very wealthy man, dabbled into hobbies, such as being an av...
“Morreall argues that, if we want to answer these questions, we shouldn’t focus on whether the joke happens to trade on a stereotype. Instead, he takes the primary problem with some humor to be that it involves disengaging from things with which we ought to be engaged.” (Morreall, 529)
The poem that I am analyzing is called “Alone”, written by Edgar Allan Poe. He was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts and passed away on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a poet who works of fiction and horror majorly impacted literature. He is also an American author, editor and literary critic. His death remains a mystery, there are different stories about how he died but no one really knows the truth behind his death. This poem “Alone” is a powerful lyrical poem that has portrayed Edgar Allan Poe’s tough and suffering childhood. The poet is the narrator of this poem. He talks about his strange and tough childhood throughout the poem with a dark tone along with wickedness, which makes it obvious that this poem’s theme is not about living a happy and wonderful life.
He points out that the philosophical study of humor is focused on determining “what has to be true of something in order for it to count as assuming” (Morreall 7). The study has shifted from identifying the theories to now explaining the psychological reasoning behind humor and laughter. Philosophers want to know what does a situation have to satisfy to cause laughter. Over the years, three theories have emerged, the Superiority, Incongruity, and Relief Theory. Morreall particularly focuses on the Superiority Theory. Combining the philosophical ideas of Plato, Thomas Hobbes, and Roger Scruton, this theory claims that “laughter expresses feelings of superiority” (Morreall 6). Laughter comes from feeling better than someone else, like neighbors laughing at the man tripping on the sidewalk in the earlier story. His neighbors could laugh because they are not in his position. The man embarrassed himself in front the whole neighborhood and got a scraped-up knee from doing so. On the other hand, his neighbors are happily sitting on their porches, free from embarrassment in front of fellow peers and have no bruises from a fall. Since they are socially and physically superior to this man, they find the situation
In “The Tell Tale Heart” Edgar Allan Poe builds up suspense by guiding us through the darkness that dwells inside his character’s heart and mind. Poe masterfully demonstrates the theme of guilt and its relationship to the narrator’s madness. In this classic gothic tale, guilt is not simply present in the insistently beating heart. It insinuates itself earlier in the story through the old man’s eye and slowly takes over the theme without remorse. Through his writing, Poe directly attributes the narrator’s guilt to his inability to admit his illness and offers his obsession with imaginary events - The eye’s ability to see inside his soul and the sound of a beating heart- as plausible causes for the madness that plagues him. After reading the story, the audience is left wondering whether the guilt created the madness, or vice versa.
What is fear? Is it being in a prison so dark a person can not see in front of them? In this complete darkness the narrator finds himself eating and drinking, then passing out on a cold floor. When he wakes he is somewhere else in the dark cell. Or is it a cell? Could it be a tomb? Just when he thinks the cell is so big he finds himself almost falling into a pit. He eats and sleeps again. Where or how will he wake? Does he wake from his drugged food? In this story “The Pit and the Pendulum,” by Edgar Allan Poe, he tells the terrifying struggle of a man dealing with fear, torture, and confinement.
Methods and Procedures: To carry this study out, they used event history techniques in order to analyze humor attempts and successes. They did this using groups of 6 people each. They further used their results with their insights on status and emotion to develop a new theory (talked about in the Background and Purpose section above). Once this theory was developed, they examined what they had from the additional data from the group discussions. Many ways that they came up with their findings in the research was by using bar graphs to plot their knowledge.
... loyal servant and friend. He wanted to be close to the King in order to protect him. He demonstrated that he did not desire a reward for his loyal actions since he remained in disguise and did not reveal his true identity to the King.
Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.