Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

Poe

The Cask of Amontillado & To F - - S S. O - - D

If the American character can be said to contain equal portions of cynicism and idealism, then two particular works of Edgar Allan Poe reveal this character. In The Cask of Amontillado we are treated to a “revenge” tale, one in which pessimism and cynicism are equally mixed as the narrator methodically, purposefully and completely exacts his revenge on the previous “thousand injuries of Fortunato [he] had borne as best [he] could” (191). In the poem To F - - S S. O - - D on the other hand, we get a love poem that is positively dripping in romantic cynicism. This analysis will compare and contrast both these works of Poe in order to reveal the American character within each.

In Cask we see Poe’s fascination with the ability of human beings to be so humane and at the same time to entertain and be capable of deeds of the worst inhumanity. For in this novel there is out and out murder and the victim is one who is hapless, prone to his vanity and unable to see through the malicious manipulations of the narrator, the supposed wronged one. However, we see something even more deep within the story. We see that the narrator is torn even at the time of the murder, fifty years previous, because his human soul is torn between his impulses for revenge and his knowledge that murder is an unpardonable sin. We even see him regret how damp it is in the wine vaults where he will bury his enemy. Like Macbeth and Cladius in Hamlet, once the narrator commits his crime he is unable to see light any more. All his thoughts and contemplation are focused on his dark deed towards his enemy. He cannot come to wholeness with regards to how he can justify his evil deeds, regardless of the supposed crimes his enemies have perpetrated upon him. He is unlike his victim in that he is the stronger, the more powerful, even though he has come to the conclusion that his victim’s “thousand inj...

Page 1 of 5 Next >

More on Poe...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
Poe. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:42, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686127.html