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?
A Competition of Wits According to Mark Twain, “A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.” Throughout literary history, the reoccurring theme of a shady character performing immoral, habitual actions is no new topic. These visual characters entertain readers with their confident persona and their desire to win. The literary pieces that include this genre of character are especially prominent entering the 19th century, as humor and deception become key components of literature.
hero. He is also the king's cousin. He may have been simply fed up if
?The Cask of Amontillado? by Edgar Allan Poe is a story about two men at a carnival, the narrator Montresor, who is being eaten by jealousy, and Fortunato, a rich drunk man that has a weakness for wine. It is through deception that Montresor achieves his revenge against Fortunato. He did not believe that killing Fortunato is wrong because of the insults and injures Fortunato brought against him. ?The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne.? (Poe, 75) says Montresor. Montresor brought Fortunato down into the catacomb. This was his chance for revenge.
Mark Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is a short story with the lesson that what goes around comes around. In this short story, which first appeared in 1856 and his first successful story, Twain uses local customs of the time, dialect, and examples of social status in his story to create a realistic view of the region in which the story takes place. The way that the characters behave is very distinctive. Dialect is also used to give the reader a convincing impression of the setting in “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. The social status of the main characters in this story also was something that Twain took into account in writing this story. Mark Twain is a realist who concentrates on the customs, dialect, and social status of specific regions of the country.
During the American literary movement known as Transcendentalism, many Americans began to looking deeper into positive side of religion and philosophy in their writing. However, one group of people, known as the Dark Romantics, strayed away from the positive beliefs of Transcendentalism and emphasized their writings on guilt and sin. The most well-known of these writers is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was a dark romantic writer during this era, renown for his short stories and poems concerning misery and macabre. His most famous poem is “The Raven”, which follows a man who is grieving over his lost love, Lenore. In this poem, through the usage of tonal shift and progression of the narrator’s state of mind, Poe explores the idea that those who grieve will fall.
Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical
murdered his father in order to become king, and he takes it upon himself to avenge his
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,” (“The Raven” 1). “The Raven” arguably one of the most famous poems by Edgar Allan Poe, is a narrative about a depressed man longing for his lost love. Confronted by a talking raven, the man slowly loses his sanity. “The Haunted Palace” a ballad by Poe is a brilliant and skillfully crafted metaphor that compares a palace to a human skull and mind. A palace of opulence slowly turns into a dilapidated ruin. This deterioration is symbolic of insanity and death. In true Poe style, both “The Raven” and “The Haunted Palace” are of the gothic/dark romanticism genre. These poems highlight sadness, death, and loss. As to be expected, an analysis of the poems reveals differences and parallels. An example of this is Poe’s use of poetic devices within each poem. Although different in structure, setting, and symbolism these two poems show striking similarities in tone and theme.
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.
In Elizabethan times, the role of a fool, or court jester, was to professionally entertain others, specifically the king. In essence, fools were hired to make mistakes. Fools may have been mentally retarded youths kept for the court’s amusement, or more often they were singing, dancing stand up comedians. In William Shakespeare’s King Lear the fool plays many important roles. When Cordelia, Lear’s only well-intentioned daughter, is banished from the kingdom Fool immediately assumes her role as Lear’s protector. The fool is the king’s advocate, honest and loyal and through his use of irony sarcasm and humour he is able to point out Lear’s faults. Functioning much as a chorus would in a Greek tragedy, the fool comments on events in the play, the king’s actions and acts as Lear’s conscience. As he is the only character who is able to confront Lear directly without risk of punishment, he is able to moderate the king’s behaviour.
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.
If there is one way to bring a smile to someone’s face, it is laughter. Funny jokes, comical stunts, sarcasm- Every person is different when it comes to what makes them laugh. Some find dry humor comical. Others think sarcasm or joke-filled ranting are the best. ‘Comedy’ is such a broad term, broad enough to allow everyone to find something they find comical. In fact, ‘comedy’ includes a specific type of drama, one where the protagonist is joyful and happy endings are expected. Comedy is like a drug; it allows you to escape reality. When we say the word ‘comedy’ in the present, we are generally referring to a type of performance which provides humor. However, in its broadest sense, comedy has only one purpose: comedy makes people smile and