Dark Romanticism In Hop Frog By Edgar Allen Poe

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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. One significant quality …show more content…

Though the king initially represents a joyous man, his physical characteristics and dark humor state otherwise. In fact the narrator makes note of, that for the king “He would have preferred Rabelais’ ‘Gargantua’ to the ‘Zadig’ of Voltaire: and, upon the whole, particle jokes suited his taste far better than verbal ones” (Poe 1).Thus, in accordance to the unknown narrator, the king would fancy laughing at people as opposed to laughing with people. The narrator goes out to even state that the king also has a preference of what type of joke he likes. Instead of enjoying riddles and spoken humor, the king enjoys physically abusive humor. This quote is significant because it gives the reader an idea of how one characters outside role completely differs from their inner darker personality. A King is meant to govern his people, in this case however, the King wishes to oppress for his own pleasure. The Kings main sources of enjoyment were Hop-Frog and Trippetta. Both Hop-Frog and Triplett are described as being helpless and innocent. Hop-Frogs short height only adds to the child-like description given …show more content…

Though the role of a king and his rank in the kingdom is known to several people, the King feels the need to boast his power by degrading the others. The king uses his social status to confine to all rules of wisdom and responsibility. His throne seems to give him permission to degrade Hop Frog and Trippetta in every manner. The King is fully aware of Hop-Frogs intolerance to alcohol, yet the King amusingly makes him drink. When the dwarf refuses to fully obey to him, the Kings pride gets the best out of him. The story teller records “At last, without uttering a syllable he pushed her violently from him and threw the contents of the brimming goblet in her face” (Poe 4).To show his power over the dwarf, the King physically harms Trippetta. The King harming Trippetta shows that the king was fully aware of Hop-Frogs weakness. Thus to show his power over the dwarf, the King abuses Trippetta. This reveals that even though the King has every tangible item he wants, the physical and emotional pain of others caused by him is what gives him great joy. Also, through this pain, the King also feels more in power. Though, the King may have the highest of ranks, Hop-Frog steadfast in showing the King just how high really is. Just as the Kings pride was inflicted when Hop-Frog did not drink the entire goblet, Hop-Frogs pride was also hurt when the King made a move on his

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