Analysis Of Hop-Frog

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The short story of “Hop-Frog” by Edgar Allan Poe is about a crippled jester, Hop-Frog, and his friend, Trippetta, who were captured from their homeland and were delivered to suffer at the hands of a king and his seven ministers. They were abducted and sent to the king for his entertainment. However, the king and his seven ministers enjoyed making practical jokes of the crippled jester. Hop-Frog experiences injustice from the King severely and tolerates it to the point in which he cannot anymore. After years of bearing the brunt of the king 's mocking sense of humor, Hop-Frog was pushed past his limits when Trippetta was insulted by the king in front of him. Due to the King 's extreme abuse, Hop-Frog undergoes trauma and seeks revenge. As a …show more content…

While people distress too much about the injustices they suffer from, they lose their mental balance and tend to get involve in extreme violence, such as, murder. In the story, Peo showed some of the traumatic event, where Hop-Frog experienced excessive injustices by the king’s forcible behavior. The writer penned, “Hop-Frog, and a young girl very little less dwarfish than himself had been forcibly carried off from their respective homes in adjoining provinces, and sent as presents to the king, by one of his ever-victorious generals” (Poe 1250). This quote clearly shows that the first injustice that Hop-Frog and Trippetta, Hop-Frog’s friend, faced was that they were forcibly carried off from their homeland and were sent to king, who treated them as slaves. In addition, Poe mentions, “But the king loved his practical jokes, and took pleasure in forcing Hop-Frog to drink and (as the king called it) 'to be merry” (Poe 1251). This excerpt shows another forcible behavior from the king towards Hop-Frog, where the king pushed Hop-Frog to drink wine, even though he knew that Hop-Frog was not affectionate about wine. The reason for forcing Hop-Frog is that the king wanted to see Hop-Frog’s madness because it jollifies him to see the dwarf with no comfortable feeling. The writer also stated, “Poor fellow! his large eyes gleamed, rather than shone; for the effect of wine on his excitable brain was not more powerful than instantaneous. (Poe 1251). This quote shows Hop-Frog’s tolerance of injustice from the king in where he was commanded to drink and that gave tears in his eyes, but the king made joke of it by saying that the wine made his eyes shine. However, these traumatic situations gave him courage to gain his revenge and eventually he gained revenge in the story. Arlene Stillwell, Roy

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