CRITICAL ESSAY #1: EDGAR ALLEN POE
INSTRUCTIONS:
Your first task,
before selecting a topic, is to follow this link
and read Poe’s definition of the short story.
Then, choose one of the following topics for your critical essay.
This essay is primary analysis, so be
sure to review what is required of this kind of essay.
As you are required to document the evidence in this essay from the short
story you choose, make sure to review the MLA page on
Documenting Literary Papers: Prose Fiction. Remember that without documentation in the body of the essay, it is not a
critical essay, and does not meet the requirements for the paper.
Make sure to always explain how you know that what
you say is correct, and provide the documented evidence to back you up.
Finally, make sure to meet all General Essay
requirements, as well as those for the topic of your choice.
HAVE YOU CHECKED THE BULLETIN BOARD FOR ANY CHANGES IN THIS ASSIGNMENT?
Follow the links to read the stories online
DO NOT PLAGIARIZE FROM THE "FREE ESSAYS" ON THE SITES CONTAINING THE
ONLINE SHORT STORIES!
1.
There are those
critics who maintain that Poe’s “Ligeia”
is the best of his short stories. If
that is the case, then “Ligeia” should best illustrate Poe’s own
definition of the short story. Using
the criteria that Poe lays out in his definition of the short story, explain
whether “Ligeia” meets or fails to meet Poe’s own standards.
The essay should be 3 pages in length.
2.
For Poe, effect is
everything. But how does he do it? Using
“The Facts in
the Case of M. Valdemar” as
your source, explain how Poe achieves the overall effect of shock or horror in
the story. Focus on a character
analysis of the Narrator and his relationship to Valdemar to make your point.
The essay should be 3 pages in length.
3.
We have seen that
part of Poe’s cosmic theory included the concern as to whether consciousness
still existed after death. In “Monos
and Una,” we see the gradual and rather peaceful disintegration of
identity following death. However,
the effect of retained identity upon the living is not considered
in this story. Using either
“Morella”
or “Ligeia”
as your source, explain how Poe achieves the overall effect of horror when
identity after death does take place.
Again, focus on a character analysis of the Narrator and his relationship
with either Morella or Ligeia to make your point.
The essay should be 3 pages in length.
4.
Disease and
obsession often play a significant role in the development of Poe’s Tales of
Terror. We have already seen these
elements at work in “The
Fall of the House of Usher” and “The
Tell-Tale Heart.” Using either
“Berenice”
or “The
Black Cat” as your source, explain how Poe achieves the overall effect of
horror through obsession. Focus on
a character analysis of the Narrator to make your point.
The essay should be 3 pages in length.
5.
Poe defines the
self-destructive element of “perverseness” in his short story, “The
Imp of the Perverse.” Essentially,
“perverseness” is “doing the very thing you wish above all not to do.”
Using “The
Black Cat” as your source, explain how the Narrator’s perverse behavior
contributes to his own downfall and the horrendous effect of that behavior in
the story. The essay should be 3
pages in length.
6.
It is fairly clear
that Poe took an interest in the psychology of human behavior.
One of the elements of human nature that he deals with is the idea of
vengeance carried to the extreme. Using
either “The
Cask of Amontillado” or “Hop-Frog”
as your source, explain how Poe achieves the overall effect of horror when
extreme revenge is taken. Again,
focus on a character analysis of the Narrator and his relationship to the
object(s) of his vengeance. The
essay should be 3 pages in length.
7.
It seems rather
obvious that no overall effect can be achieved unless the details of setting and
atmosphere are also developed to contribute to the desired effect.
Using either “The
Pit and the Pendulum” or “The
Masque of the Red Death,” explain how Poe uses setting and atmosphere to
create an overall effect of shock and horror.
The essay should be 3 pages in length.