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Masque of the Red Death and Hop Frog The manner in which Poe addresses the topic of class differences and the struggle for power with his fictional characters resounds of his own struggles in his personal life. However, unlike in Hop Frog and the Masque of the Red Death, he was never himself able to emerge wholly victorious over his adversaries, including the publishing industry. In addition, Poe’s characters appear to hint that while wealth may be the source of power for many, the correct use of information itself is the surest path to the acquisition of power. In the story by his name, Hop-Frog is not only physically dwarfed by the King but is dwarfed in terms of bodily capabilities, wealth, social standing, and even in numbers as he and Trippetta are but two against the King and his 7 ministers. However, Hop-Frog emerges victorious, as his mental capabilities are seemingly far greater than the Kings. The King is described as having “an especial admiration for breadth in a jest, and would often put up with length, for the sake of it” (Poe, 502). It becomes apparent that the King is not a smart man and his jester is indeed quite the opposite. The fact that Hop-Frog knows of the King’s weaknesses and tailors a perfect plan for vengeance to fit the occasion of the masque ball is a testament to his creativity and most useful utilization of information. In the Purloined Letter, the useful utilization of information, which is by keeping such information hostage, again allows for great power in government. In these two stories we are given the message that information is most valuable and leads to power. In reality, Poe also made good use of information in order to gain a wider subscriptio... ... middle of paper ... ... to power may have been Poe’s ideals in Hop-Frog and The Purloined Letter, but the reality of the situation was that monetary wealth was the single most useful means of gaining power, at least in the publishing industry. The Masque of the Red Death was a poignant social commentary on this uneven field of play and Poe’s point of view concerning the wealthy capitalists. Nonetheless, the possibility of altering the rules on the field of play lay not in the hands of the mentally acute and those who possessed information, but completely with those who possessed capital. Works Cited Kennedy, Gerald J. A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2001 Poe, Edgar Allan. The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: The Modern Library 1992 Poe, Edgar Allan. The Unknown Poe. San Francisco: City Light Books 1980
The theme of Dark Romanticism is greatly portrayed throughout Edgar Allen Poe’s one of many famous short stories “Hop Frog”. This literary genre is founded on the idea of looking at a society from a dark perspective. It is based on the idea that the evil of this world lies only in the hands of man himself. The movement accentuates the notion that courage, determination, and ratiocination reach its heights when the thirst of revenge is at bay. This short story narrates a tale about Hop Frog’s schemed revenge against the myriad of taunts from the king and his seven ministers. The characters of the story “Hop Frog” highlight key elements of the Dark Romantic Movement by displaying the baleful and unforgivable nature of man.
The Untied States of America was built on the exploitation of others and the expansion of foreign lands. Anglo-Saxon superiority and their successive impact on governing policies and strong domination throughout every social institution in the nation allowed discrimination to prevail. Scientific Racism reached new heights of justification towards slavery, the massive eradication of the Native people, colonialism and daily occurrences of unequal behaviors and treatments towards colored people. The strong presence of polygenesis helped spur along and justify racism; the idea that all non whites were groups of individuals who ultimately came from another type of species supporting the idea that Blacks, Natives and other colored people were not ‘real’ human beings. Traditions, legislation, domination and acceptance of such social norms allow racism to be principal whether it was apparent through slavery or hidden in new laws and policies to come. Every aspect of a colored person’s life was affected upon, Education, economic status, environmental location and political rights. Those who had the power within the court system followed the Anglo-Saxon ways, making any change difficult and time consuming to come across.
Walker, I. M., ed. Edgar Allen Poe: A Critical Heritage. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986.
Redfield, J. S. "The Genius of Poe." Foreword. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. A.C. Armstrong & Son. New York: A.C. Armstrong & Son., 1884. xv-xxvi. EPUB file.
Poe, Edgar Allan. Ligeia. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 692-701. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allan, and Arthur Hobson Quinn. Complete Tales and Poems. New ed. : Dorset P., U.S., 1992. Print.
Meyers, J. (1992). Edgar Allan Poe: his life and legacy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons Frank, F. S. (1997). The Poe encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press..
" Twentieth Century Interpretations of Poe's Tales. ED. William L. Howarth, b. 1875. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971. 94. - 102. - 102.
Odysseus portrays himself as anything but a hero throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus goes through his life believing he is the best. He has no regard for anyone’s feelings but his own, and he believes nothing and no one can harm him, not even the gods. Odysseus feels he is always the leader and no one can tell him otherwise. Odysseus should not be considered a hero because he portrays himself as a selfish man that failed his crew, and is controlled by his hubris.
Hoffman, Daniel. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. 1972. Reprint, Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State UP, 1998.
Most of you know that prior to starting at Actel I lived in Canada. But what you probably don't know is that I've only lived in Canada for about 10 years. I was born in a town called Yekaterinburg. It is located in the Ural Mountains, just west of Siberia in Russia.
Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. book.
Before Edgar Allan Poe, the common belief was that poetry should be about Truth, and that it should impart some morals. Poe disagreed, and strongly felt that poetry was not at all about passing along the Truth. Poetry should be about Beauty, and the excitement of the soul. For Poe, the truth was far too harsh to be included in poetry. The truth for Poe was that life is harsh. Poe was abandoned at a very young age. His father had abandoned his family, and his mother had died by the age of three. From there, his life did not get better. A wealthy merchant family, the Allan?s, unofficially adopted him. With the help of the Allan?s, he received a top-notch education. His early education consisted of boarding schools in England were he learned Latin and French, as well as many other subjects. After his stay in England, Poe came home with an education superior to his peers in America. He continued his education until his enrollment into the University of Virginia. There, due to reasons unknown, John Allan sent him to school with insufficient funds (Meyers 235). He did not have enough money to buy books for the first semester. He had to gamble to earn money enough to buy him clothes and money to live on, since Allan would not send him more money. After one year, Poe had to end his education, being broke and an alcoholic. After this he had many bouts with the army. In b...
The most prominent of those scholars is Everett M. Rogers who is considered to be the foremost authority on the diffusion of innovation theory. He published his first book The Diffusion of Innovation in 1962, in it he compiled about five hundred different studies conducted by other researchers and from that he postulated that a unifying theory could explain why, how and at what rate innovations would be adopted by a certain culture (Singhal 2003). E.M. Rogers as stated compiled other people’s research, which were predominately surveys of individuals, from that research he was able find the elements that he believed had an impact on diffusion. One of the strengths of this theory is that it can be used on an individual, group, or some other social order, which makes it qui...
1997). By reviewing the literature on learning and innovation, we try to answer the following