Who Is Hop-Frog Justified?

In his writing, Edgar Allan Poe has multiple uses of direct and indirect characterization. In The Cask of Amontillado, Montresor had rules such as “I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong” (Poe, 2). Poe used indirect characterization to show the reader that Montresor is an unreliable narrator because he justified his actions or in this case, murder, to the reader using rules that he created for himself. Poe revealed to us that Fortunato looked at Montresor “…with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication” and “the wine sparkled in his eyes…” (“The Cask of Amontillado “6, 8). It is revealed to the reader that Fortunato was drunk. Fortunato and Montresor are both full of pride. Fortunato “prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine” and Montresor considered himself as “skillful in the Italian vintages” (Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” 3). When Fortunato “ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge” (Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” 2). Montresor is vengeful and creates rules for killing with impunity. Poe also showed indirect characterization in Hopfrog. The king had known that “Hop-Frog was not fond of wine; for it excited the poor cripple almost to madness, and madness is no comfortable feeling. But the king loved his practical jokes, and took pleasure in forcing Hop-Frog to drink, in

War has the ability to change many things about the world. While most associate the changes of war with boundaries and governments, people often forgot the influence it has over society and culture. The United States experienced a change similar to this shortly after the Civil war. Citizens were shown the brutality and devastation of war which lead to them having a grim outlook on the world. This viewpoint inspired a new generation of artists and authors who ,with their combined works, created Realism. Writers like Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Abraham Cahan, Ambrose Bierce, and Henry James pushed the drastic shift from feelings to reality in the hopes of appealing to the more literate working class. Many stories, in order to capture reality, relied on similar techniques and themes such as: simplicity, truth, and criticism.

     In addition, Poe shows the natural emotion of shame a man feels when someone catches him in the process of doing something wrong, demonstrated when he says “conscious of having deserved punishment, it seemed desirous of concealing its bloody deeds, and, skipped about the chamber in an agony of nervous agitation; throwing down and breaking the furniture as it moved, and dragging the bed from the bedstead.” Then, the Ourang-Outang realizes his faults and tries to conceal then, as would any man, exemplified by the statement “it seized first the corpse of the daughter, and thrust it up the chimney, as it was found; then that of the old lady, which it immediately hurled through the window headlong.” (122) Within this specific scene of the story, Poe is able to show that the man and Ourang-Outang are very similar in the way they deal with the situation. The navy man runs

“He would have preferred Rabelais’s “Gargantua,” to the “Zadig” of Voltaire: and, upon the whole, practical jokes suited his taste far better than verbal ones.”

To analyze Poe’s characterization of class differences and power struggle, we may look at the Masque of the Red Death. In this story, the Prince Prospero and his wealthy friends are shown as wicked in their utter disregard for the common man dying outside their gates. The idea of the upper class being evil and ignorant is seen again in the line, “The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think” (Poe, 269). Here, as in Hop Frog, there is the underlying idea that the rich and powerful are often evil and ignorant but must eventually reap their just rewards. Surprisingly, even though Poe utilized information and understood the popular taste, he did not have incredible success in real life against his own rich and powerful adversaries. His writing may have been a venting apparatus for his own frustrations with those who were in positions of power; namely his father and wealthy capitalists unwilling to provide him with

Edgar Allan Poe is an American author whose writing style, full of mysteries and macabre, has fascinated generations. However, his works are more than just thrillers and morbidities. The writings of this author often contain other themes such as companionship, family bonds, longing passion, and perhaps the strongest of these is revenge. “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Hop-Frog; or, The Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs” are two short stories that certainly demonstrate a recurring theme of revenge. Poe not only presents his signature pattern of cold fate in both works but also displays the struggle of a lower social class against the higher social class to the extent that it almost hints at a call for revolution.

The story named 'The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County' was published in 1865. The edition that I studied had the story with a preface in which Twain has angrily addressed some Frenchman who have tried to translate his story in french and had ended up making fun of it. So Mr. Twain has given the original story to him, then his own translation in french and then the translation in English of the story that the Frenchman published in the article.

The varying writing techniques of the literary world bring particular elements to stories, giving each their own added meaning. In his story, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Mark Twain uses two distinct dialects. Contrasting characters, one named Simon Wheeler and the other remaining unnamed, each speaking in their own fashion. By doing this to his characters, Twain ensures that the reader experiences the writing of the realism era in a way that is more than a plot that is merely stated, and not given much value. The characteristics that the story has from dialect usage- these being distinction between two scenarios, theme, and authenticity-are supplemental to the plot’s overall caliber.

The narrator of the story slowly progresses into a vile being under the influence of alcohol. Before his vicious behavior took hold of him, he was considered a kindhearted person. According to Poe’s portrayal of the narrator, he “ [...] was noted for the docility and humanity of [his] disposition” (Poe 3) Moreover, “[... his] tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make [him] the jest of [his] companions.” (Poe 3) This means that he was so compassionate and gentle that it made him the laughing stock of his friends at a young age. Because of that, his pets became a big part of his life; he would always play with them and spend most of his time with them. His love for animals was passed on to his adulthood, when he and his wife owned

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Hop Frog,” the main character Hop Frog is justified in his act of revenge because he is removed from his original country to be given as a gift to the king, and the king is disrespectful to Trippetta. The first reason Hop Frog is justified is because generals take him forcibly to be a gift for the king. After being ripped away from his home and brought to another country he is treated inadequately, “Many Large, bitter drops fell into the goblet as he took it, humbly, from the hand of the tyrant” (Poe 902). This scene shows how hop frog is humble and modest as he is being forced to drink wine. Hop Frog does not appreciate drinking, yet he cries as he does what he is told by a man who is indeed a tyrant.

Hop-Frog is justified for killing the king for two main reasons. The king is cruel to Hop-Frog. The king makes Hop-Frog drink wine when Hop-Frog is too small to handle the alcohol. The king chuckles, “Ah! ha! ha! roared the latter, as the dwarf reluctantly drained the beaker” (Poe 4). The king is proving that he is being a jerk by making Hop-Frog drink the wine. Hop-Frog let tears drip down his face while drinking the wine. The king is making Hop-Frog drink and at the same time the king was making fun of him. The king and his men knew that Hop-Frog could not handle the liquor he was given. Hop-Frog is stirring up a secret plan to get revenge. The king and his fellow men find it amusing that Hop-Frog is different. Hop-Frog is a dwarf that has distorted legs and

When the wine befuddles Hop-Frog, a tyrant demands him to drink more. Hop-Frog hesitates to drink the wine, which angers the king. The only person there to save Hop-Frog from the angered king is Tippetta. She falls to her knees in front of the king and begs him to let her friend go. He began to show his exasperation on Tippetta. Similar to how a child would act when something does not go their way, he began to act up. “Without uttering a syllable, he pushed her violently from him, and threw the contents of the brimming goblet in her face” (Poe 460). His act of aggression is unnecessary and therefore another reason for Hop-Frog to get back at the king. Another way Hop-Frog’s action is exculpatory is because the king is foolish enough to walk into his death. Throughout the story, the joke is on Hop-Frog. The king is constantly trying to make a fool out of Hop-Frog. When no one came up with an idea for the masquerade, the king relies on Hop-Frog and Trippetta. The king more than likely did not think Hop-Frog is smart enough to come up with a plan for the play. When Hop-Frog told the king his plan, he is proud that he could designed a play that would both terrify and astonish the

“Hop-Frog” is a captivating short story of a joker who learns to deal with his problems, one way or another. Edgar Allan Poe draws you in with the tale of Hop-Frog and his encounters with the king and his royal council. With the help of his good friend Trippetta, Hop-Frog learns the ways of dealing with the demanding king and his foolish ministers. Using literary devices like imagery, plot, and point of view Edgar Allan Poe hooks you into the story as you learn to

Poe's prideful nature also played into“The Cask of Amontillado.” Interestingly, his pride played itself out in both helpful and hurtful ways. On the one hand, “Poe was nothing if not

The moment of violence I found is in chapter six “Pig and Pepper” where Alice discovers an odd household of a frog footman, a duchess and her babe.