Student Essay on Poe and Hawthorne, Comparing Writers

There have always been comparisons ranging from players, books, and etc...

One comparison spoken about by sports reporters is between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and who was the best in their prime. Many reporters say Jordan because he was clutch and was the most competitive athlete they have ever seen. Other reporters say Kobe because he has a better jump shot than Jordan at his age and has to play along another superstar. Jordan never had to go through what Kobe is going through right now. Another comparison talked about is Capitalism and Communism and which political institution is the better one. Many people say communism is the way to go because everyone is equal and no rich person has an advantage in this system in contrast to Capitalism. People say Capitalism is the best because it is a democratic practices freedom, and people can amass wealth and can live a comfortable life because of it. The comparisons between the economical ideologies will be forever debated furiously, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The reason why I went out of the subject of English and mentioned these comparisons are because writers from past and present compare Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorn as being vastly different writes. They were both allegorical writers whose stories were giving a message to the reader, so in comparison there are in some text the same and only the way the write separates them.

Edgar Allan Poe was an allegorical writer whose stories often left the reader feeling tricked, more understanding of his personal tragedy, and messages in all his tales telling us something. One story that caught my eye was the "pit and the pendulum." It was a good and suspenseful story about a prisoner locked up by the inquisition and awaiting his execution. It started off pretty good and what made it scary of the way the prisoner described his captors by "the lips of the black robed judges. They appeared to me white-whiter than the sheet upon which I trace these words-and thin even to grotesqueness;" (161 Poe). The suspense was so good even when they fed the prisoner food because he did not know the apparent reason they did this, was it because it was going to be his last meal soon or was it they were going to feed him to the rats after he was executed. Soon after the captors took away his food and the suspense started to increase when they released the pendulum and the "sweep of it had increased in extent by nearly a yard. As a natural consequence, its velocity was also much greater. But what mainly disturbed me, was the idea that it had perceptibly descended" (170 Poe). The rats also were a major part in the scaring the prisoner and the reader because they are known to be filthy and vile scavengers who will eat anything to appeal their hunger. "While I gazed, they came up in troops, hurriedly with ravenous eyes, allured by the scent of the meat" (170 Poe). The downward swing motion of the pendulum really left the reader in suspense while leaving the prisoner mad because he was feeling the dread of death lingering and "grew frantically mad, and struggled to force myself upward against the sweep of the fearful scimitar" (171 Poe). In the end when the prisoner was about to die and all of a sudden a hand came out of now where and grabbed him. "The French army had entered Toledo. The Inquisition was in the hands of its enemy" (176). This story shows that everything has an end, and no matter how the situation is going you should have faith and never quit even if it is your last breath. Another Story was scary but had a good message was "The Tell-Tale heart." It was about an old man and a young man who lived with him, and went crazy because he thought he had an evil eye. This story freaked me out a little bit because in the real world there are people out there who are really crazy like that and it makes you think a lot. The young man loved the Old man dearly, but one of his eyes was thought to be evil by him; that is why the young man wanted to murder the elder.

"He had never given me Insult for his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it" when ever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees- very gradually-I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever" (177 Poe).

As the story progressed on the young man waited for the old man to go to sleep. When the old man went to sleep the young man made his move for damnation, and attempted to kill the old man, and thus he succeeded in his devious deed. After the murder the young man felt alleviated because the eye would never bother him no more. The young man "placed his hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more" (180 Poe). The message I felt Poe was trying to say was that everybody has evil in them and it should be purged because it can be very detrimental to you.

Hawthorne to me was another allegorical writer whose style is so refreshing from Poe because of his approach to many things such as sin and the mystery of it. Also his story usually has a message in it just like Edgar Allan Poe. One story that involved with a message was "Young Goodman Brown." The Story is about a man who is obsessed with sin and it catches up with him in the end. In the beginning of the story, Faith, his wife did not want Goodman Brown to leave because she is afraid something might happen to him. "A Lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she's afeard of herself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year" (2186 Hawthorne). After Goodman Brown went on his journey he was met by a manly figure with a staff that appeared to look like a serpent's tail. Later on Goodman Brown started to get tested by the devil in his mind in the forest by mocking him when he started crying Faith! "Then echoes of the forest mocked him, crying Faith!Faith! As if bewildered wretches were seeking her, all through the wilderness" (2191 Hawthorne). As the story continues Goodman Brown started to see demons and people he knew in visions he was having. Goodman eventually lost faith and now despair and madness replaced it. After the Ordeal Goodman Brown returned to the town and to go back his wife and see his friends. Then

"He scowled and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away. And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave, a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grand- children, a goodly procession, besides neighbors, not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom" (2195 Hawthorne).

Goodman Brown did not see his wife or anybody nice, but as sinners. Brown loses faith, which is a sin and thus separates him from the rest of the pack. The message of the story shows that you need to have faith because god never loses it with you despite all of the things you have done that were not right. Always have faith good things will always happen. Another Story Hawthorne wrote and had quilt involved with messages was "The Minister's Black Veil." It was particularly good just for the simple fact it was about a Reverend Mr. Hooper who for some reason started to wear a black veil. At first sight "people questioned Mr. Hooper and that thing he has upon his face? Cried the sexton in astonishment" (2195 Hawthorne). People were so intimidated that they felt the veil was also causing nothing but evil around them. When Mr. Hooper arrived to a wedding "the first thing that their eyes rested on was the same horrible black veil, which had added deeper gloom to the funeral, and could portend nothing but evil" (Hawthorne 2198). When he wore the veil it was causing uproar and a scandal in the community because the towns members did not understand why he wore the veil. After this his wife tried to ask why he put on the veil. "Come, good sir, let the sun shine from behind the cloud. First lay aside your black veil: then tell me why you put it on" (2200 Hawthorne). Mr. Hooper refused to take off the veil and then said, "There is an hour to come," said he when all of us shall cast aside our veils. Take it not amiss, beloved friend, if I wear this piece of crape till then" (2200 Hawthorne). Mr. Hooper also said further into the end of the story that having a secret sin any other human would hide it with a veil like he has done. In the end Mr. Hooper died and then the people finally lifted his veil uncovering his face. This story shows that everybody has a secret sin and he or she become so ashamed with guilt they will go by any means to hide it. Mr. Hooper was so guilty of his sin that he wore his veil throughout his life and took it off after he died.

Comparison is something that is good because you could compare certain issues, and people to get an overview about certain perspective that have been skewed throughout time. Furthermore, it can make you learn about thing you never knew about people or the things they have done. It has its negative side because it has cause problems because opposing opponents have a certain belief and they are going to stick by it. Even though there are negative aspects about comparison, I feel I got, and gave positive views of the comparison of two very different writers who many thought were different. I thought their stories were totally opposite. Edgar Allan Poe was a tricky, dark, and guess what it is type of writer, comparing to Hawthorne whose style did with sin and mystery of it and moral lessons, they both were the same to me because both of them were allegorical in a sense that every story had a message for everybody to see and analyze.

.