Edgar Allan Poe Flaws

Within every one of us, we have small imperfections that are capable of killing people. While many try to improve their flaws, others allow them to dominate their lives. Edgar Allan Poe is a fine example of these types of people. His imperfection- obsession towards alcohol- influenced his stories. Proven through his work, Poe examined how feebleness stems from a person’s tiniest flaw. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Prince Prospero’s arrogance led him to believe he can overcome Death. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the main character’s delirium causes him to experience madness, which results in a heinous act of murder. The narrator’s alcoholic obsession, in “The Black Cat,” becomes corruption, again leading to destruction. Thus, Edgar Allan Poe

depicts the power of weaknesses as they consume one’s mind.
Weakness feeds on selfishness. The main character, Prince Prospero, in “The Masque of the Red Death,” was self-absorbed. His frailty was his self-centeredness. This story took place during the Red Death, where many people died because of the Bubonic Plague. Even though a population of people were exterminated every thirty minutes, the protagonist only perturbed about himself. He chose a thousand selected individuals, who were his companions, despite the fact that there were many others who died, as well. Afterwards, he remarked, “The external world can fend for itself (Poe 373).” Instead of utilizing his wealth for those that were suffering, he withdraws to his abbey to digress from the disease; thus, this shows his selfish nature. In addition, the wealthy prince thought by locking up his castle, he was “locking out” the pestilence from bargaining into his home. As long as Prince Prospero’s people were in his castellated abbey, he believed no one was going to face Death. After all, “all these [the appliances of pleasure] and security were within [the abbey]. Without was the ‘Red Death’ (Poe 373).” As a result, this conceited flaw lead him to underestimate Death and become oblivious to the situation.
The protagonist’s wealth caused him to assume he can protect himself against the dark figure- Death-.

His cluelessness made him believe he was able overcome the termination of the disease spreading around the country, as long as he was affluent. The fact is Death met everyone—no exceptions. Rather than Prince Prospero allowing his guests and his protectors to apprehend this dark figure, he wanted to murder Death himself. His "maddened rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice (Poe, 379)" took over his mind, therefore, causing him to pursue the Death figure. By doing this, he attempted show his peers that he can handle the situation in regards to the dark figure, which is not true. Death is inevitable. Due to Prince Prospero’s arrogant belief he can escape Death, it caused him to die. He overestimated his true abilities because of his egoism. If a person’s pride dominates their life, such as Prince Prospero in this story, this is a weakness; therefore, it is weakness that dominates egotism. The flawed human nature of arrogance can cause a person to become oblivious with the

truth.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the main character murders the old man because of delirium. Poe’s masterpiece introduces the narrator explaining the Evil Eye. “He [the old man] had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it…I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever. For it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye (Poe 1).” Since the main character is delirious, he believed the “Evil Eye” is making him go crazy. “Delirium is a condition of severe confusion and rapid changes in brain function… Symptoms include disorganized thinking and changes in feeling (sensation) and perception. Emotions include anger (Psychology Today 1-3).” While an average human being believes the eye does not bother them, the narrator’s confused state causes him to believe otherwise. The main character perceives the eye as a vulture inspecting and knowing everything about him. It symbolizes how the old man can see through the narrator’s deepest fears; through the story, the narrator’s disorganized thinking is a human flaw that will affect the way he perceives the eye. Therefore, this minor frailty pertaining to the main character’s hallucination towards the “Evil Eye” takes over the narrator’s mind. Eventually, this delirium turns into madness.
Throughout this short story, the main character has a battle within his head trying to justify his mentally “sane” mind. He knew he “loved the old man… [and] he had never wronged me… [but he wanted to] rid myself of the eye forever (Poe, 1).” The main character’s brain is leading him to believe his actions and his thoughts are justified; however, his morals and his heart, which is controlled by the brain, is contradicting his idea in regards to the killing. He remarks, “TRUE! -- nervous -- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad (Poe, 1)?” Due to the narrator’s delirium, he is experiencing confusion, which demonstrates how his weakness is beginning to take over his mind. Furthermore, when the vulture eye “was open --wide, wide open -- I [the main character] grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness --all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled… my bones (Poe 2).” In order to alleviate the madness, the protagonist’s mentally unstable mind is assuring him how murdering the man will get rid of the negative ambiances coming from the supposedly “Evil Eye.” Consequently, as a minor delirium towards the eye turns into anger, this leads into assassination. The main character slaughtered the old man, causing him to die. In doing so, the narrator found that “his eye would trouble me no more (Poe 2).” He killed the eye for his selfish reason because of the culpability that ached inside of him. Nonetheless, the delirium is further carried through “The Tell-Tale Heart” since the logic is present. The crazy narrator provides intricate reasons as to why he acted the way he did and the motive behind the killing; this means the killing done was reasonable. All through the story, the main character becomes delusion because of the evil eye, therefore, causing the anger to build up inside him and to murder the old man. This insanity consuming the mind was caused from just a simple delirium because of the eye.
The narrator’s alcoholic obsession in “The Black Cat,” leads to his corrupted actions.

He starts off as a compassionate and sympathetic person who cared for his wife and his animals. Though, as he experienced the “instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance (Poe 2),” the narrator grew “more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others (Poe 2)." It appears the more he became obsessed with liquor, the more “the disease grew upon me [the main character], -- for what disease is like Alcohol (Poe 2)!” In this case, the narrator’s frailty is being an alcoholic. An “overconsumption of alcohol causes the death of brain cells, which can lead to brain disorders as well as a lowered level of mental or physical function (DrugAbuse 4). People cannot control their behavior (Kids’ Health Topics 1).” As the main character starts becoming an alcoholic, he begins to abuse his wife and his animals, which is an iniquitous action. His “original soul… [begins taking] flight from its body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtures, thrilled every fibre of my body (Poe 2).” The narrator does not have control over himself because the alcohol is dominating him, his decisions, and his actions. Moreover, “alcohol dependence, or alcoholism, occurs when the body cannot function without alcohol… The brain becomes accustomed to the way that alcohol affects these brain chemicals. It can no longer send proper signals to the rest of the body without the presence of alcohol

(DrugAbuse 5).” The main character being an alcoholic means he does not have any self-control over himself, and he is dependent on alcohol. His body and his mind start to become mentally amoral, and the liquor is causing him to have unclear thoughts. When he drinks, his rage and paranoia are loose, and he is capable of hurting his loved ones. Thus, this main character’s love for alcohol led his mind to corruption.
His impaired thinking is again illustrated one day when the narrator returned home intoxicated, he understood his cat, Pluto, was avoiding his presence. The alcohol lets his anger overwhelm him and when irritated, he “took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast [Pluto] by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket (Poe 2)!” The liquor has impaired the main character’s judgement; he has a corrupted mind and he is becoming increasingly violent. His alcoholic problem caused him to believe his action, in regards to taking the cat’s eye out and killing the cat, was justified due to his impaired thinking. Inside the character’s mind, “evil thoughts became my sole intimates… I [attempted to] aim a blow [with an axe] at the animal… Goaded, by the interference [the main character’s wife], into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain (Poe 4).” The narrator was annoyed and infuriated. He kills his wife, also, for interfering with his plan to kill the second cat they adopted; consequently, this shows the main character’s corrupted and malicious mind. The former joyful, generous man sprouts into an evil criminal, who murders Pluto, his cat, and his wife. As shown throughout this short story, the negative effects of alcohol depict how liquor can dominate one’s life. A minute frailty, like an obsession, can cause chaos and malevolence, which stems from the negative actions, such as drinking alcohol.
Human weakness comes from the mind. Weakness comes in many forms whether by addiction or delirium. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Prince Prospero’s sense of superiority causes him to believe death is inevitable. This leads to him ignoring reality. The delusions of the main character, in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” causes lunacy because of his scattered thinking. His sick mind cannot cope with what he perceives is an evil eye. Within “The Black Cat,” corruption by alcohol means that nothing matters more to the protagonist than his own impulses. Therefore, Poe is telling us to always be on guard against our frailties. The consequences of letting our faults get out of hand are serious. By thinking about Poe’s work, we make sure not to forget his lessons. We all have flaws within each and every one of us. However, we should never allow them to dictate our lives and who we are as a person.