Both authors have to convince the reader that the main character is mad. How do they do this? Which portrayal is more effective? Why? Bradbury and Poe.

Both authors have to convince the reader that the main character is mad. How do they do this? Which portrayal is more effective? Why? Both Bradbury1 and Poe2 work extremely hard to convince the reader that the main character is mad. They achieve this by each using a wide variety of different techniques, and each madness can be seen to bear both similarities and differences. For example, motivation for murder is different in each case. Immediate reactions to the crime itself are also different. However, the short stories culminate in a similarly undesirable ending for both characters. This essay charts how both writers masterfully portray madness in their chosen protagonist. It compares and contrasts the two texts to discover exactly how Poe and Bradbury use words with precision and style to create an unchallengable impression that each character is insane. The first thing that the reader notices at the beginning of The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl is the way the story is told; Bradbury uses third person to describe what is happening. This is different to The Tell Tale Heart, where Poe writes in first person. What are the effects of these different ways of writing? Using first person really invites the reader to get an insight into the protagonist's mind and how he3 operates. Poe uses this to allow the reader to develop a sense of understanding the character

  • Word count: 4384
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast the narrative techniques used in three or more of Edgar Allan Poe's tales.

Compare and contrast the narrative techniques used in three or more of Edgar Allan Poe's tales. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19th 1809. He became a writer unlike many others at that time, writing stores of crime or horror literature. Several people say his disturbing and unusual stories were the result of his own life and situations he had been through, and although he was an American, his writing strongly followed in the examples of European gothic stories. During his life he wrote many of the finest representations of gothic literature, these stories include many essentials that differ them from original stories, such as a melodramatic plot, themes of terror and torture, sinister locations, heightened emotions, and can they also be based on old superstitions or fears. Another example of gothic literature in the 19th century was "Dracula" wrote by Bram Stoker (1897), this genre of horror and torment has remained to be popular until the present day, with modern authors such as James Herbert and Stephen King. "The Cask of Amontillado" is a short gothic story wrote by Edgar Allan Poe, about the narrator named Montresor, describing how his friend Fortunato has offended him repeatedly in the past, and how he is now planning to seek revenge upon him. Using a vintage amontillado as bate he guides him down to the catacombs below his house where a space in the wall

  • Word count: 4196
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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By comparing‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ with ‘Hop Frog’ discuss the ways in which the writersportray the central characters.

By comparing 'The Yellow Wallpaper' with 'Hop Frog' discuss the ways in which the writers portray the central characters. March 2003 Olivia Presland Center Number 19139 English Literature Coursework St. Felix School 'The Yellow Wallpaper' and 'Hop Frog' were both written at a time of social turbulence and revolution. Poe wrote Hop Frog twelve years prior to the American civil war, so it is fitting that many of the ideas in the story carry a strong anti-slavery message. Similarly, 'The Yellow Wallpaper' was written in 1892 just before the climax of equal-rights for women. Gillman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper' is one of the early feminist texts in which her writing criticises the position that women were oppressed into and the ignorance of society as a whole. Both Gillman and Poe attack fiercely these ideas that were both upheld and willingly accepted by the majority of society. These two settings immediately portray the two central characters, a woman and a slave, as two of an unheard minority, who were subjected to an unjust, patriarchal world. One of the main similarities between 'Hop Frog' and 'The Yellow Wallpaper' is the atmosphere of each of the stories. Both are horror stories are very dark, and have a horror genre, however 'Hop Frog' is also similar to a fairy tale in that it is quite unbelievable, and where Hop Frog's surroundings

  • Word count: 3405
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare and Contrast "The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe and "A Confession Found In A Prison In The Time Of Charles II" by Charles Dickens

Compare and Contrast "The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe and "A Confession Found In A Prison In The Time Of Charles II" by Charles Dickens We have looked at two different short stories by two different authors. The first story is called 'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe and the second is called 'A Confession found in a prison in the time of Charles II' by Charles Dickens. I have found out that that they both have a murder theme in common. There are also other similar themes between the two poems such as early confessions. The plot in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is about a mad man that has the motive to kill an old man because of the look of his eye. We know that the mad is mad because he says on a number of occasions that he is not 'mad'. This repetitiveness shows some evidence of a degree of madness. He also claims to 'love the old man' and says that 'he has never wronged me' but still has every intension on killing him because his eye 'resembled that of a vulture'. The idea of wanting to kill, a man because his eye is like that of a vulture's eye, is not a plausible reason. This backs-up the idea that the author is mad. The man himself does not know where this idea came from, and I know this because he says 'It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain. He also confesses early to what his intensions are for the murder which is an important point to

  • Word count: 3366
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

While the enormous popularity of Edgar Allan Poe's famous short stories and poems continues to highlight his creative brilliance, Poe's renown as the master of horror, the father of the detective story, and the voice of "The Raven" is something of a mixed blessing. Today, Poe is known, read, and appreciated on the basis of a comparatively narrow body of work, roughly a dozen tales and half as many poems. For the novice reader, these favored texts offer easy (but still challenging) access to Poe's most exemplary writing, entry into his uniquely terrifying world, and intriguing connections to facets of their author's tragically disordered life. The total effect of all this is compelling, and Poe himself would certainly approve. He wrote for the masses, using his learned artistry to reach the common people of his day and to then elevate their minds while intensifying their emotional reactions. Poe was not averse to the commercial sensationalism either: he wrote several "hoaxes" as news and later capitalized on his personal notoriety for bookings on the lecture/recital circuit. Along with Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway, Poe ranks among the foremost literary stars in the firmament of popular American culture. A century and half after his death, Poe is instantly identifiable, stands without rival and remains (with effort) immensely enjoyable. In his normal frame of mind at least,

  • Word count: 3237
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Pre 1900 prose stories : Analysis of “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W.Jacobs

Pre 1900 prose stories : Analysis of "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe and "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W.Jacobs In this assignment I am going to analyse "The Black Cat" written by Edger Allen Poe, and, "The Monkeys Paw" written by W.W. Jacobs. These two short stories are superb examples of Victorian short horror stories. I am going to compare the narratives with the horror genre from the Victorian period and from at the present time and take note on changes of attitudes in generations. My past experiences of horror films and stories are when I have being told them at sleepovers and around campfires. Also I have read them books and at the cinemas to watch a horror film. Both horror films and stories create an atmosphere of jeopardy, peril and fear that captures the tension intended. The director in films achieves this tension by using spine chilling music and setting it in cold, gloomy and eerie surroundings. Features that are common in horror stories are dilapidated, out of the way run down old houses, which have a reputation for being haunted, and subnormal things have being known to go on in between the walls. Also another feature in a horror stories is that the main character is always alone in the house. Some times at the beginning of horror stories and films you hear about a murderer on the loose or a ghost spotted near by, this adds to the tension and builds up to the

  • Word count: 3162
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Edgar Allan Poe 'Tell Tale Heart' and 'the fall of the house of Usher

Show how Poe uses language to create atmosphere and describe the state of mind of the murderer and Roderick Usher. Consider how the modern reader might respond to these stories. Daniel Tiernan 4U Edgar Allen Poe was an American short story writer, editor for magazines and poet during the early to mid 19th century. Two of his short stories, 'The Tell Tale Heart' and 'The Fall of the House of Usher' were both written during the Victorian times when Gothic literature was at it's height in popularity. The main thesis and features of Gothic literature are mystery, terror, supernatural, big decaying houses or castles and the dead. The Victorian readers were fascinated by the supernatural especially, with many still believing in witches and black magic. Ideas like these are still found in horror stories today and also in films, however the main attraction for horror movies has changed from supernatural, to audiences wanting to be frightened. Poe was a prolific idea of Gothic literature, and his main base for writing was madness, which features in both stories that we have studied. His writing does not just include madness, but also its implications and what it can result to if left untreated. In the opening sentences Poe captures the reader's attention with Capitalisation, the use of exclamation mark, repetition and a rhetorical question. 'True! - nervous - very, very dreadfully

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Squaw’ are both short stories from the sub-genre of horror fiction. How are evil and the supernatural presented in each of the stories? Compare and contrast the two stories.

English Literature Coursework - Response to Pre-1900 Prose texts 'The Black Cat' and 'The Squaw' are both short stories from the sub-genre of horror fiction. How are evil and the supernatural presented in each of the stories? Compare and contrast the two stories. Horror stories have common ingredients, including, a ruined gothic castle with monsters such as vampires and werewolves. Horror stories generally play on fear of the unknown. They cause the reader to be afraid of what they are going to see that they don't expect. When horror stories are also short stories, they benefit from this. A larger amount of dramatic events can take place in a short space of time. If the main character of a horror story that wasn't a short story died very near the end, the whole story would be ruined. This means that readers of short horror stories are shocked much more. In the two stories, evil and the supernatural are not presented in the way that they are normally in short stories. They are presented in a way to make the reader think about them, and how they can arise. This is unlike most horror stories, in which the aim of the story is just to shock and scare the reader. The two stories are entitled 'The Black Cat' and 'The Squaw'. The tiles of stories can tell the reader about them. The Black Cat is a short story about a man who is driven to murder by his cat. The Squaw is also a short

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe's Works

The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe's Works By Mohamed Abdel Raouf 900-00-1018 Course: ECLT 113 Instructor: Dr. Valerie Farag Section: 14 Paper #3 - Draft #3 The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe's Works. Outline Thesis Statement: Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be one of the greatest and most brilliant American writers in history. Many people considered him the first master of the short story form, and the father of the mysterious and the modern detective stories. Outline: I. An Introduction to Poe life and works. A. Due to Poe's great works, many writers were influenced by these works. II. The early life of Poe and how it affected his life. A. His parents died so Allan raised him up. B. Allan ill-treated him and this affected his life and works afterwards. C. Poe's education in England enriched his knowledge. D. Poe joined the University of Virginian and the army afterwards. III. What affected the works of Poe. A. Learning a lot of language enabled Poe from knowing different nations cultures and literature. B. Poe was good at the field of Art as well. C. Poe read to famous philosophers. IV. Analysis of the stories and poems of Poe. A. Poe was a talented writer. B. He excelled in poetry and in fiction and detective stories. V. Poe excelled in the field of detective stories, as he was the inventor of the short detective story. A. Many famous writers based

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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With which of the two murderers do you feel sympathy for in the short stories, "The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe and "Confessions found In a Prison" by Charles Dickens?

With which of the two murderers do you feel sympathy for in the short stories, "The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe and "Confessions found In a Prison" by Charles Dickens? My essay will consist of the themes of the two short stories and background information on the authors who were living at the Victorian time, now seen as classical writers. Edgar Allen Poe was born January 19th 1809 in Boston. He was an American short story writer, poet, critic, and editor. He is famous in all of these traits for his cultivation of mystery and macabre writing. The atmosphere is his tales of horror is unrivalled in American fiction. After his mother died in Richmond, in 1811, he was taken into the home of John Allan, a Richmond merchant (presumably his godfather), and his childless wife. He was later taken to Scotland and England (1815-20), where he was given a classical education that was continued in Richmond. His gambling losses at the university incensed his guardian that he refused to let him continue, and Poe returned to Richmond to find his sweetheart, (Sarah) Elmira Royster, engaged. Poe made a name as a critical reviewer and married his young cousin Virginia Clemm, who was only 13. Poe seems to have been an affectionate husband and son-in-law. Poe was dismissed from his job in Richmond, apparently for drinking, and went to New York City. Drinking was in fact to be the bane of

  • Word count: 2790
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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