Edgar Allan Poe

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the narrators of "Hop Frog" and "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe lend themselves particularly well to a discussion of narrators. The paper relates that the story "Hop Frog" features a first-person narrator that is never named. Instead, he remains in the background while he relates the events of the story. He indicates that he observes the events as they occur, but he is never part of these events. The paper points out how, in addition to narrating in the first person, Poe accomplishes the rather unusual combination of narrator as both first person and omniscient. The paper then looks at, how in "The Cask of Amontillado", the narrator also tells a story of revenge and explains that the the main difference between the two stories is that, in "The Cask of Amotillado", the first-person narrator and the avenger are one.

From the Paper:

"The climax provided by the "Hop Frog" narrator is more striking than that of "Amontillado". The reason for this may lie in the style of the stories. The tone of the narrator, as well as the way in which he relates events before the climax, forms a sharp contrast with the horror of the burning. The narrator's unchanging conversational tone provides the same contrast. Because "Amontillado" has more focus, the reader also focuses upon the end. Having been prepared for brutality since the start of the story, the reader expects it, and is therefore not as deeply struck by the climax. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Poe, Edgar Allan. Hop Frog. http://www.poestories.com/text.php?file=hop-frog
• The Cask of Amontillado.

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