Edgar Allan Poe shows us through his stories, how fear can be harmful, but also helpful to a person. Fear can be harmful to a person since it causes paranoia, clouding rational thinking, and maybe even causing it to lead up to the point where all you can think about is your fear, causing you to do things that can harm yourself or others. Though fear is seen primarily as something bad, it can definitely help you out in many cases. Fear helps you because it restrains you from doing something that can get you into trouble since you become to scared to do it. Fear also keeps you alert, and helps you survive in dangerous situations. All the main characters in Poe’s stories, such as the narrators from “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and the Pendulum” …show more content…
and Prince Prospero from “The Masque of Red Death” experience fear and are affected by it in either a harmful or helpful way. In these stories, Poe uses literary devices such as symbol, irony, and figurative language to illustrate how fear controls a person and their deeds. Symbolism is used in “The Pit and the Pendulum” to illustrate what causes the fear to strike in the narrator’s mind. For instance, the pit is a symbol that is feared by the narrator as he tries to escape the prison. The narrator describes the pit whose “horrors had been destined for so bold a recusant as myself- the pit, typical of hell and regarded by rumor as the Ultima Thule of all punishments. The plunge into this pit I had avoided by the merest of accidents, and I knew by surprises or entrapment into dungeon deaths (Pg. 69).” The pit is a symbol of death and is described to be a very harsh punishment. If the narrator falls into the pit, he will die in a very slow and painful death, therefore symbolizing death and suffering. Fear is applied to this because the narrator now knows that a pit exists in the prison and he must be very careful to avoid it. His fear helps him to be careful so that he does not fall in and experience the pain and suffering of a slow death. The result is that due to this fear, the narrator is more smart in the way he tries to escape the prison and is more careful, helping him escape the prison more efficiently. The pit is a major symbol in the story and gives lets the reader know that by describing it in a treacherous and nerve-racking way. In “The Masque of Red Death”, irony is used to show the reality of death and one’s fear of it. For instance, the prince faces the irony of getting rid of death itself, yet dies himself, in attempting to doing so. Poe writes, “It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the same of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers… he bore aloft a drawn dagger and had approached… turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry… fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero (Pg. 61).” Prince Prospero is so eager and head on to “kill” death and get rid of it, yet ironically, it is him who gets killed. Prince Prospero was not scared of the intruder, which had caused him to die. His fear would have prevented him from rushing and killing the mask figure and he would not have gotten himself killed, but he had no fear to prevent him from that. He did not survive due to his lack of fear and his head-on decision. The irony of the story shows us how death is inevitable and that fearing it will not help. “The Tell-Tale Heart” uses figurative language to describe how the narrator feels about what is fearing him and why it is fearing him. For instance, the narrator uses figurative language to describe the eye in a grotesque and fearsome way. Poe writes, “I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye… but I found the eye always closed… for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye (Pg.75).” The narrator uses a metaphor and personification to describe the eye of the old man. The narrator uses a metaphor to compare the old man’s eye to one of a vulture’s. Poe does this to show how the narrator fears the eye. The narrator uses personification by calling the eye evil as a way to show how frightened he is by the eye and how much he despises it. The figurative language shows that he is not just scared of the eye but that he is disturbed and completely frightened. When the narrator says the eye resembles one of a vulture’s, he does it to describe not only that it looks like a vulture’s eye, but that it is menacing and it symbolizes danger as that is what the narrator feels. His personification of the eye of being evil, is showing he is only bothered by the eye. He even says that it is not the old man that is bothering him but the eye. The eye is triggering his fear and he feels that he needs to kill the old man to get rid of the eye, but not the old man. The way he thinks of the eye as shown in the story, the fear that is bothering him, causes him to later on kill the old man and he gets haunted by the guilt of it. The story shows us this is a negative consequence of fear and that we should not let it get too far into our heads to the point where it masks what is right and what is wrong. The figurative language shown in the story shows how the narrator thinks and what he thinks of something. Fear causes a person to feel a certain way and can have negative and positive impacts, which is illustrated through symbol, irony, and figurative language in Poe’s stories.
There are different ways fear can be negative but yet sometimes positive. Fear can be positive because it keeps makes us alert and careful, and keeps us from trying anything vacuous. The narrator of “The Pit and the Pendulum” has a fear of the pit as soon as he discovers it, which motivates him to be careful in where he moves and that later helps him escape the prison. Prince Prospero also has the courage to chase down the killer in “The Masque of Red Death”, which gets him killed. If he were to fear the killer, he would not charge head on to die so early. Negatively, fear can take over our minds in the form of paranoia. It can mask rational thoughts and make our fear turn into an obsession. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” is obsessed with the old man’s eye since he lets his fear take over his mind. This clouds all his rational thinking and he mindlessly kills the old man that he had probably loved, for such an atypical and unjustifiable reason. Fear helps people think during a complicated situation, but one should not let their fear take control over their rationality. A balance must be found in between the two to keep a steady mind. Fear can have more positivity than negativity if a person lets fear only go a certain
length.
Fear is a powerful emotion. Wikipedia.com describes fear as “an emotion induced by threat perceived by living entities, which causes a change in brain and organ function and ultimately change behavior, such as running away, hiding or freezing from traumatic events.”Most people tend to avoid fearful situations, not realizing that something positive may come out of the event or experience. Victor Villaseñor focuses on the topic of fear in his novel titled Burro Genius. Villaseñor demonstrates to readers how growing up he was extremely fearful of any situation. Victor also tells his readers how he turned his fear into motivation into motivation to keep going and reach his ultimate goal of becoming a published author.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential writers to date. His thrill filled tales of darkness and death helped people see a different side of romantic literature. Many believe that his isolated life and drinking problem helped influence his works. Poe showed his most prominent life accomplishment and disappointments through his life in his stories. He defined a lot of his life’s parallels through his works.
Of course, the most dominant example of fear was when Scrooge met The Ghost of Christmas Future, and saw his fate. Scrooge saw that people wouldn’t show up to his funeral, and saw that some thieves even stole from his room whilst his corpse was still resting in his bed. It made Scrooge want to become a better person, and have a better legacy when he died. In “Thank You M’am”, Roger was scared that Ms. Jones would report him to the police or kidnap him. When Ms. Jones shut the door on him, he was scared straight to knowing that stealing was wrong, and that the next time he steals somebody won’t be as generous as the lady. In my small group learning, Jesus was too scared about being faced with prejudice to help the lady with the valise and the kids. He hated that he was scared, so he decided to change himself to be helpful, even if he may be shunned by the way he looked. If somebody is about to lose their job, they change to focus more and learn how to do their job better. We all do have fear, but in some situations fear can be
“Fear becomes easier to master when the patient’s mind is diverted from the thing feared to the fear itself, considered as a present and undesirable state of his own mind; and when he regards the fear as his appointed cross he will inevitably think of it as a state of mind.” (9) Once the patient has figured out the states of fear, then they can conquer it. They immediately transfer paths so they do not get pulled into the dark forces. 1 John4:18 says “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love”
Fear has controlled the world and shaped humans into what they are now. New technologies have been created, because of the fear humans have. Over time new fears have evolved, and illnesses occurred due to anxiety and depression from these fears. The terror that runs through each individual is different. Without fear there would be no evolution or protection.
Edgar Allan Poe is known to observe humans reaction to… Both Poe, in his short stories “The Fall of the house of Usher”, and Bierce, in his short story “One of the Missing”, expose their characters to fear.
One only needs to look at Edgar Allan Poe's works to see how disturbed he truly was. Poe wrote about men being buried alive, a heart that would not stop beating even after it was taken from the body, a man being tortured by a swinging blade, and a tormented man being haunted by a raven. Why would a person write about such horrors? What demons did he seek to exorcise through his writings? What made him so tormented and cynical? Maybe for Poe it was because both his mother and his bride were snatched from him by tuberculosis. Or maybe it was because the world around him was surrounded by violence and death. Or maybe Poe was just that tortured, due to his broken upbringing.
In “The Tell Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe, creates fear and dread. One way Poe creates fear and dread is through the narrator. The narrator shows humor towards the man’s fear. He states, “To think there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea” (Poe 304). Poe shows the two faced personality that the narrator has towards the old man. In the story, the narrator tells us that he was never kinder to the old man than the week before he killed him. Throughout the story, he feels confident in his deed. After killing the old man, he pretends to be calm and convincing. The narrator’s madness tries to convince readers that he is not insane. He states that madmen
This essay will discuss the themes in Poe’s writing that mirror his personal life and, in addition, the fear and supernatural motivators for his characters. First, I will discuss Poe’s background and explore how he became best known as a poet for his tales of mystery and macabre.
Fear motivates many people to act upon matters, right or wrong. This emotion has been important in many events in both works of literature, and in the real world. It has forced military geniuses into retreat, and influenced them to plan another method of attack. Fear can be both a positive and a negative acting force in one’s life, a quality that can motivate one to success as well as to downfall.
Fear influences people to make irrational decisions and take extreme measures. Often times, these actions are done to protect one’s reputation. Fear causes people to lie and manipulate to those they care about in order to escape what they are scared of most. Fear of failure has caused higher levels of anxiety, and has made society put blame on each other, rather than owning up to their mistakes. Fear can also cause one to forget one’s true identity and lose one’s values. There are two options that one can take when being faced with a fear: run away from the fear, or go through it and learn a valuable lesson in the end that will make you a stronger person. Fear is a harmful emotion that everyone has to go through in order to succeed.
In the words of Bertrand Russell, “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom” (Russell). Fear causes many problems in our lives. Fear influences many of a person’s actions and decisions. However, people usually regret the decisions or actions they made out of fear. Also, these actions and decisions can cause problems for those people in their future. Fear is a harmful emotion, for it clouds people’s judgement, disables them from taking action, and causes them to make decisions that they will regret later.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the author, Edgar Allen Poe, creates fear and dread throughout the story. One way Poe creates fear is in the way the narrator claims he is sane, when in reality he is very unstable. The narrator claims that his insanity is actually just the over-acuteness of his senses. As the narrator approaches the old man, he begins to grow furious at the sight of the man’s eye. That fury increases even more when he supposedly hears the old man’s heartbeat. When this occurs, the readers start to become fearful for the old man. They start to become scared because they know this fury will eventually lead to the old man’s death. The unstable state of the narrator is also shown when he continuously stalks the old man. His method of
Edgar Allan Poe had a very tough life, he faced many hardships. The hardships in his life made him a very sad, depressed person and he expresses that through his writings. He was born in 1809 and his father deserted the family right after his birth, a year later his mother died. All the woman in his life that were close to him died. Edgar Allan Poe later joined the army and started his writings. Edgar Allan Poe used himself or made himself similar to the narrator in his stories a lot of times. He expresses his feelings and reflects on his life through his writings, such as his short stories. The short stories that he really seems to express his emotions in are The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Tell-Tale Heart.
We have seen it in modern films, like The Shining, and are reminded of it in Poe’s short story- the human mind is a dangerous thing. Isolation, madness, and fear in The Fall of the House of Usher remind us just how frail the human condition is. Fear is especially relevant because we see its power in everyday life, for example, a stock market crash caused only by its investors fearing a crash, or performing poorly on a test because of staying up all night worrying about it. The reason that the themes in Poe’s story are scary is that they are and will continue to be relevant to its readers.