Similarities Between Hawthorne And Edgar Allan Poe

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe are considered masters of American gothic fiction. They used similar gothic elements in their writing and used it to build up a sense of impending doom. Even today numerous readers enjoy, study, and discuss the gothic elements both utilized in their work. Gothic writing is a style that is concerned with the dark side of society, an evil that lies within the self. Poe and Hawthorne contributed stories which contained dark struggles between characters and society with its rules of order of the time. Gothic writing is fantasy meant to entertain despite the fact that it depicts the political and social problems

Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were writers of the American gothic genre. They both used the elements of horror and mystery in their writing styles, writing about the dark side of humanity and the evil that lives within the human mind. Gothic writing focuses on the dark side of humanity and both Poe and Hawthorne captured this style well in their use of themes, symbols, and narration that focused on darkness and evil with their characters fighting various psychological issues. However, Poe’s stories are told in the first person narrative and he focuses on one human psychological effect, looking at man’s thoughts from within his mind and how his behavior then affects his surroundings. He also tends to build a sense on impending doom somewhat stronger than Hawthorne. Hawthorne, on the other hand uses the third person and focuses more on how man’s thoughts and behaviors are the results of what is happening around him. His stories also tend to be more of a romantic nature than Poe’s and he tends to create stories of conflicting interpretations to share lessons of life.

Irony, a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result. Throughout Night there is use of situational and verbal irony. This use of irony keeps the reader interested. The use of irony causes the reader to know things that the characters often are not aware of.

The story “The cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe already starts with irony in the first sentence; “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge”. By using irony the author allows readers to have different interpretations of his story; for example Poe’s antagonist characters has the name of Fortunado. He is the one that is murdered in the end, thus demonstrating that he is not as fortunate as his name seems to indicate. Bella Wang and Amelia Tibbett exemplify this by saying, in her analysis of Poe’s story; “Poe gives the victim the name of Fortunato, which may mean "fortunate" in Italian, but adds an extra element of cynical humor to Fortunato 's jovial and unsuspecting character.” (Wang) and also “the word "luckily" also recalls the meaning of Fortunato 's name and is thus entirely unfitting for Fortunato 's fate.” (Wang). Moreover, in her analysis of the text, Amelia Tibbett confirms the fact that the reader has a kind of freedom in interoperating the story; Poe cleverly weaves this story so that he has perfect control over the narrative, all the while allowing the reader some freedom in their own interpretations. (Tibbett).

"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story that was first published in the 1836 edition of the Token and Atlantic Souvenir and reappeared over time in Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The short story narrates the events following Reverend Mr. Hooper's decision to begin wearing a black veil that obscures his full face, except for his mouth and chin. Mr. Hooper simply arrives one day at the meeting house wearing the semi-transparent black veil and refuses from then on to take it of, leading to the loss of his fiancée and isolation form the world. He is even buried in the black veil. Yet, what is important to note are Mr. Hooper's last words to those

"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story that was first published in the 1836 edition of the Token and Atlantic Souvenir and reappeared over time in Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The short story narrates the events that follow Reverend Mr. Hooper's decision to start wearing a black veil that obscures his full face, except for his mouth and chin. Mr. Hooper simply arrives one day at the meeting house wearing the semi-transparent black veil and refuses from that moment on to take it off, which leads to the loss of his fiancée and isolation from the world. Mr. Hooper even goes as far as to insist on burial in the black veil. Yet, what is crucial to note are Mr. Hooper's last

Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allen Poe’s works were unlike any style of writing that I have come across. The “gothic style” era of literature was defiantly intriguing, and sometimes even creepy to read. I will say that, it absolutely held my attention while I was reading. As I first read Poe’s works, I noticed that he very much so enjoyed writing in the darkest, and sometimes the most morbid form possible. Dark romantic novels such as, “The Oval Portrait,” and “Ligeia” shocked me. It is very easy to see the different elements between Nathaniel Hawthorne work, and Edgar Allen Poe’s works. I believe that Hawthorne enjoyed writing mainly romances, sometimes containing a gothic elements. Poe seems as though he wrote romance gothic style novels, but with a twist. He enjoyed throwing supernatural aspects into his works as well as unexplainable events, omens, portents, and visions. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work, “The Birthmark” and Edgar Allen Poe’s work, “The Oval Portrait” made

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, a new literary genre sprung up, the Gothic story. In the United States, the most prominent exponent of Gothic fiction was Edgar Allen Poe, whose “horror” tales conjure up the dark side that many of us at least half-believe is hidden just beneath the surface of the most conventional lives. In this paper we will discuss the Gothic in light of two of Poe’s stories, “Ligeia”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and contrast Poe’s story with a somewhat dark tale of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, “The Minister’s Black Veil.” We will also analyze why Poe’s stories are Gothic’s and Hawthorne’s is not.

The way we read and interpret a novel lies within the novel itself, so is the literature that generates the criticism. The most commonly thing between the transcendentalists and anti-transcendentalists is the association of the society and the people themselves. Despite anti-transcendentalists who represent the consequences of personal isolation, transcendentalists tend to manifest in their writings the personal freedom from the isolation of the social associations. Basically what they believed was that any person was greater and more powerful than any other institution. Nathaniel Hawthorne in his novel “The Minister’s Black Veil” chooses a Puritan minister, Mr. Hooper to withdraw from everything pleasant in his life, and to be much more a

An example of irony is the name Fortunato itself. Fortunato means “lucky or fortunate” in Italian. As the story shows Fortunato is not even remotely lucky, being

A common theme in the American Renaissance is breaking free from the intellectual traditions of the past. This is effectively expressed by Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne despite differences in their writing style through the stories of The Raven and The Scarlet Letter respectively.

A second example of Montresor’s calculated insanity is when he presents Fortunato with the tool of his demise. While going through the catacombs, Fortunato’s “eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle [of De Grave] upwards with a gesticulation that [Montresor] did not understand” (229). When Fortunato recognizes Montresor’s confusion, he mocks Montresor’s status, stating Montresor is “not of the brotherhood” (229). Fortunato is referring to the Freemasons, a very old and prestigious group of men which Montresor has clearly not been invited to join. Montresor then claims to be a member of the masons, to which Fortunato replies with indignation. As a sign of the masons, Montresor then produces “a trowel from beneath

Dramatic irony can be seen in Poe’s work in many ways. First, the name “Fortunato” (deriving from fortune in English) is a clear example of irony, since the character appears to have everything except fortune. He is heading to his death from the beginning of the story. Professor Nevi, from the Department of English in Oregon, referred to Fortunato’s name when he says, “Although it would help, a student don’t need be versed in a foreign languages to notice that Fortunato’s name is ironic. He is definitively not the fortune one ”(Nevi 462). In this statement, Professor Nevi is clearly affirming how easily it is to determine that Fortunato’s name represent an irony. Furthermore, the way that Poe describes Fortunate as dressed like a court jester

The same way that the spider has no genuine regard for the fly, Montressor believes that Fortunato is deserving of scorn, disrespect and mockery, showing it in several ways. M’s disrespect for F is exposed when M replies “true, true” to F’s statement, “I shall not die of a cough.” Even though M has no regard for F’s cough, he encourages F not to go deeper into the catacombs; M’s intention is not for his good will, but for his immolation. M scorns F when he refers to himself as a mason and “produces a trowel” as a symbol of the Mason brotherhood. F is shocked and rejects the comment. One of the worst examples of the mockery…Quote. The resentment may be imagined, but his contempt is cruelly

Nathaniel Hawthorne is considered to be one of the most substantial writers of his time. His most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter truly originated Hawthorn’s version of romantic writing. It was this novel that also originated Hawthorne’s fame. Most of his works deal with or have some relation to Puritan times. The reason for the familiarity in his works is due to the fact that it seems to be influenced by his own Puritan ancestry. It was not until late in Hawthorne’s life that he received recognition. To do this Hawthorne had to change his name and found his own stlye of writing that pertained to his life experiances. His romantic style might have been too modern for the times, but eventually he was