Assignment Topic: Characterization in
Edgar Allan Poe’s stories.
Name: Gohil
Khanjaniba Mahipatsinh.
Class: MA
(Part -2).
Semester: 3.
Roll no: 13.
Enrollment
No: PG13101009.
Paper Name:
The American Literature.
Suggested
By: Heenaba Zala.
Dedicated
To: The Department of English,
Smt. S. B. Gardi,
Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji
Bhavnagar University,
Bhavnagar.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Edgar A. Poe was most
dominant figure of the Romantic Literature. He is mostly known for his regular
genre or fiction like mysterious stories or detective stories. He was born in
Boston and was an orphaned child. Thereby he was living with John and Frances.
In the very beginning of his childhood he has lost his parents and has got
influence of it in his life as a orphan boy.
Edgar Allan Poe most probably
known for his contribution in Cosmology and Cryptography. Cryptography is a
kind of writing or style where writer is using some numbers and symbols. But it
stands for some kind of messages which is bounded to give openly or directly.
Poe was most famous in American society because his writings were spread all
over in America and Boston. Thus in Poe’s stories we can find out such a kind
of thinking process which can be connected to the idea of discrimination of a
particular group of people who are not acceptable in the society in which we
are living, it called as a well respected society.
E. A. Poe has written five major
short stories and each and every story contains the different meaning. All of
these stories are dependable on Psychological facts and logical; thinking
process.
1. The fall of the House of Usher.
2. The Purloined Letter.
3. The Gold Bug.
4. The Tell Tale Heart.
5. The Cask of Amontillado.
In these stories we
could not find out female characters into the power position. So the question
of gender here comes, when man is writing a story and female is writing a
story.
The fall of the House of Usher
In this
story there are four main characters who leads the whole story, they are as
under:
Roderick Usher
Madeline Usher
Philip Winthrop (the unnamed narrator but he has given name
in movie)
Bristol (a servant of the Usher family)
This story is characterized in a big palace
kind of house, very horrible and terrific in a lonely place where nobody is
going to come. But in this story the unnamed received a letter from his friend
named as Roderick Usher and then narrators goes to visit his friend. In this
story pronoun first person narrative “I” refers to the unnamed narrator. In
this story the female character Madeline Usher is misrepresented. At the end of
the story we can see that Madeline has been killed by her own brother because
of curse of the family. Thereby Madeline comes to take revenge of her death as
a spirit. So in this story the narrator may describe as a mouth piece to a
character which is not focused in the book. Then narrator goes back to his from
where he was coming to meet his friend. After being there narrator could not
help Madeline Usher although he wants help her.
The Purloined Letter
“The
Purloined Letter” is one of the finest short story or a detective story by
Edgar Allan Poe. In this story also we have the same thing the unnamed
narrator, with the help of this unnamed narrator we can say that Poe tries to
fix a kind of character who is unidentified.
Here
Poe also describes some characters that are representing their skills or their
advanced thinking as the thief and the detective officers are doing in the case
solving situation. In this story Dupin is characterized as a brilliant
detective, who is more personal about himself. He speaks less but is an expert
in psychological thinking. Minister G is more scientific thinker eho always
looks for authenticity of proofs, evidences.
Poe
creates the world of hierarchy of his time. Here the element of taking revenge
is reflected with the help of Dupin’s character. The story ends with the conclusion
that what is visible to us is not true but what is hidden from us or what is
not shown to us is very important. Things never comes directly to us one should
ready for it always.
The Gold Bug
In the
very beginning of the story Poe describes a relationship or a bond between the
characters they are the unnamed narrator and Mr. William Legrand. The title has
its own significance.
In this
story Poe introduces the method of the solving the case. It looks like merely
an assumption that to find out gold or a treasure with the help of a bug. Thus
the whole story is dependable on direction in which our life is moving, aim,
wish and desire to achieve something auspicious in our life. Here Mr. William
Legrand’s personality is so different which is not similar to the unnamed
narrator.
At the
end of the story we found on more conclusion point hat is William Legrand’s
wife has been died from the beginning and they are living in an island.
The Tell Tale
Heart
This story begins with the
speech of the unnamed narrator and he speaks that is he mad? So the general
interpretation is that any mad person will not accept that he or she is mad
person. But we came to know that in this story the unnamed narrator kills an
old man who was his owner and the narrator was working in his house as a
servant. Once the unnamed narrator kills the old man because the narrator was
feeling some kind of fear because of the vulture eye of the old man. It was
torturing him day and night.
So
the story leads a kind of fear in unnamed narrator’s mind and because of this
he kills him and he accepts his sin in front of the police officers.
The Cask of Amontillado
In this story there are
two main characters they are Furtunato and the unnamed narrator. Both are close
friends and know each others need and desire. But because of personal anxieties
and depression of being failure in getting the same reputation as Fortunato
has. In the carnival festival; there was lots of celebration and nobody knows
what is going to be done and the narrator tries to take revenge with he help of
his killing plan of Fortunato.
The unnamed narrator calls Fortunato in a
cave (a secret place) and he gives Fortunato drinks instead of his medicine and
makes him unconscious. Thereby the unnamed narrator kills Fortunato ands lives
him alone although he calls the narrator to help him.
So here in this story the name and fame,
reputation became a kind of jealousy to the unnamed narrator.
Conclusion
In
the conclusion I want to say that there is lack of self respect, confidence and
stability of the mind makes the person superior as well as inferior in his or
life.
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