Madness in the Tales of Poe and Hawthorne Essay

With madness and confusion dominating short stories such as some of the tales written by Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the psychological states of their master(prenominal) characters atomic number 18 of the utmost importance. The meanings of the stories depend on whether the characters are truly insane, suffering from a physical ail ment or merely intensely angry and empty for revenge. Poes tales The Fall of the family unit of Usher and The Cask of Amontillado both explore themes of madness and premature burials.However, while Roderick Usher seems to be suffering not provided from a physical illness but also from insanity which may have stem from a history of ami fit disorder (Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher), Montresor seems to have been under the grip of intense hatred that have been caused by his victims previous insult on his person. It may be argued that Montresor is ill like Usher, but his well-planned crime contradicts the supposition of an unhinged mind. Meanwhile, the psychological troubles of Hawthornes characters in Young Goodman Brown and The Ministers Black Veil are apparently milder, but not subtler.People may think Goodman Brown as a recluse and a snob and Minister Hooper as psyche mourning over his or other peoples sins. Hawthorne explores isolation in both stories, highlighting the possible self-destruction that may result from intensely reclusive lives. Though the stories may vary and the level of amiable disorder may differ, both Poe and Hawthorne present people with emotions that are overly sensitive and with mental faculties that are more distraught than most. Poe is fascinated by madness. His stories are sometimes even narrated by persons whose mental and emotional facilities are questionable.This results to a more evoke reading of each of the stories. The reader is left to wonder if he or she is able to extract the accurate account of the story or a craze version of it. In The Fall of the House of Usher the narr ator observes what goes on in his host, Rodericks house. He rejects evidence of the supernaturalHe is predisposed to regard Roderick as mad and therefore to reject any explanation Roderick suggests (Bailey 446). The narrator of the story depends on the accounts of his host, Roderick but he does not trust his friends sanity.This creates a tension that is experienced by both the narrator and the reader this tension is the uncertainty of what is unfolding because it is through the guidance of such an unreliable source like an apparently mad Roderick. Montresor of The Cask of Amontillado may not have the gaunt and unhealthy look of Roderick Usher but what he has dvirtuoso to his enemy, Fortunato, is super cruel. The deed may have seemed perfectly planned and efficient but someone who can avenge an insult received by murder must(prenominal) be somehow unhinged.The criminals mind is exaggerated as is evident in his narration THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I lift out could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge (Poe, The Cask of Amontillado). My heart grew sick it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I laboured the last stone into its position I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has delirious them. In pace requiescat. (Poe, The Cask of Amontillado)Though Montresor displays some strong emotion over what he has done to Fortunato, he continues with the crime methodically. Moreover, this contradiction, along with uttering Rest in Peace to his victim seems to suggest that Montresor is indeed insane. In the both short stories, Poe illustrates insanity that has been passed through generations and then insanity that has been triggered simply by an insult. Nathaniel Hawthorne shows some doctor about the fate of souls in his two stories The Ministers Black Veil and Young Goodman Brown.While Poe illustrates madness that has resulted from being either inherently insane or predisposed to mental illness, Hawthorne explores zealous religiosity that can result to madness. Minister Hoopers strong sense of religiousness has driven him to an native means of discerning the pious from the hypocrite. Why do you tremble at me alone? Tremble also at each other Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black blur? (Hawthorne, The Ministers Black Veil) The man has decided to put a black veil on his face. non even his fiancee has been able to persuade him to take off the veil which in turn has given him a continuously mourning persona. Though he is mentally capable to continue his duties as minister, he does them with a somber aura which the veil produces for him. The insistence on constantly wearing the black veil displays obsessive behavior related to his faith despite the fact that he has not actually stated what his real reason for wearing the v eil is. In Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne again tackles the effects of the perception of sin. Here, the main character is oppressed by what he thinks is the real knowledge of other peoples sins.What he is not aware of is that the Devil, which he has consorted with in the woods, has made him believe that every single person in his community is involved in savage whole kit and caboodle. elders of the church have whispered wanton words to the young maids of their households how many a woman, eager for widows weeds, has given her husband a drink at bedtime and permit him sleep his last sleep in her bosom how beardless youths have made haste to inherit their fathers wealth and how fair damsels have dug curt graves in the garden, and bidden me, the sole guest to an infants funeral (Hawthorne).Having believed the Devils lies, Goodman Brown is continually suspicious of his neighbors intentions. He even believes their good deeds to be merely pretentious displays of piety. Because of this behavior, Goodman Brown isolates himself from the rest of the community and dies a lonely death. Hawthorne explores the themes of isolation and zealous religiousness in his two short stories, expressing the dangers of the two themes. Both Poe and Hawthorne have effectively expressed the psychological terrain that their main characters are in.Through using a narrator that is either the character with the questionable mental state or one that distrusts that character, the stories become more mysterious and subject to individual interpretation while the intensity of emotions coming from the main characters are able to shine through. The two authors explore mental instability in different forms Poes stories are about inherent, maybe even genetic tendencies to lose ones mind while Hawthornes two tales are about isolation that has resulted from obsessive spirituality.