‘The Pit and The Pendulum’ by Edgar Allan Poe and ‘An Encounter’ by James Joyce Essay

An analytical study of The stigmatize and The P determinationulum, An brushing and The Pedestrian, commission on the cases of paralysis, entrapment and isolationThe texts chosen for this study atomic number 18 The Pit and The Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe and An Encounter by pack Joyce which, I feel, are appropriate as they provide comprehensive coverage of the stands analysed whilst universeaging to cover a historical level of some(a) s horizontalty years1. Poes magical spell is a dark, Gothic bailiwick which deals, in great depth, with the model of both(prenominal) mental and physical paralysis encompassed in an entrapping and obscure atmosphere. Joyce, on the other hand, takes a characteristic on the wholey much diverse and subtle approach to the concept of paralysis, cunningly concealing the theme within the stagnant sur roundings of his capital of Ireland. Verbal entrapment is furtherto a greater extent offered in the puddle of a dubious elderly man.The story An E ncounter by James Joyce amply exhibits many stylistic featureticuloendothelial system associated with the modernist author for fashion model the use of epiphany or writing with with(predicate) first person narrative, with inner monologue to spotlight the cognisance of the booster unit and similarly subtly divulge the feelings of others to the peradventure more aware readership. However, Poe, on the contrary, chooses to play the cards of shock and little terror in a dash which is far more explicit and gruesome in comparison with Joyces incorporation of ambiguity.The theme of paralysis is key to Joyces cream the nonion is implicit byout Dubliners as a whole. With this stem comes its antithesis passing water or with respect to An Encounter and many of the other stories, disappointed escape. It is because of the characters desire to achieve this freedom, that when the day fails to reach its naughty expectations, the stagnation and restrictiveness of the skirts ar e powerfully rein hale peradventure even sustain. From the outset of the tale, Joyce ponders the intuitive feeling of escape. Characters searching for such an escape, often render how they would wish to travel afar to achieve it. So important, it seems, is this imagination that the booster unit of the initial story of Dubliners, can be quoted of aspiring to strange, foreign dreamI felt that I had been very far a authority, in some land where the customs were strange in Persia, I ruling.This feeling is openly exhibited in An Encounter, as Joyces first person storyteller sound outsReal adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who persist in at home they must be sought abroad.In the story, Joyce develops the theme in the earn of an inner monologue the conceptions of the recall dose dictating how his Wild wolfram adventures opened doors of escape. The method used is quite customary of the author- the thinking processes of the boy (relating to escape) are lastl y what drive the tale, yet Joyce quietly conveys them through subtle, nondescript details. Joyces winsomered with his hometown appears, like his works, slightly ambiguous. He may often be quoted of his distaste for the stagnant city2, succeeding in displaying it with an absence seizure of enthusiasm, as a moribund, non-eventful hive. However, iodine feels that on reflection, by and by reading his work a subtle affection is undoubtedly apparent perhaps Joyces time spent in exile3 incubated an innate longing for the city Dublins entrapment being, perhaps, what fuelled this fascination with the petty happening of the city?Joyces relationship with the theme of entrapment in Dubliners is essential to the text at times he appears intent, at others repelled. An Encounter deals with methods of escape other than exotic foreign adventure, commission on the attempt of two boys to break out of the weariness of their day-after-day environment. Although, at first the prospect of adventur e excites the young boys, there is unceasing undertone of anti-climax carefully intertwined into the story. Joyce salvages from the first person point view, often through analepsis. It is perhaps because of this that a frequent air of frustration pursues the young schoolboys it is as if the story is being recalled by a man embittered by the restraining and ultimately paralysed city of Dublin. Quite often Joyce refuses to commit any fervent perception to events, preferring to use leave outlustre qualifying adverbs or adjectives We were all vaguely demented it was a mild sunny morningJoyce intently chooses to focus in on the most insipid details, usually choosing to focus on existential sense experience such as Mahoneys grey get or the brown4 fishing fleet- which works to suppress the buoyant atmosphere. This notion is in any case relative to the descriptive mood, which the author quite purposely generates through negative evocation of certain aspects The docile horses the drivers of groaning carts.This process of qualification through modifiers generates a sub overdued atmosphere parallel to that of the jaded inner-consciousness of the pluggers. The negativity which is presently apparent in almost all(prenominal)thing coming togethered appears to be an entrapping agent over the boys, who mop into a resigned and somewhat resentful state, a state which is furthermore reiterated by the repetition of the adverb too It was too late and we were too tired to tamp out our project of visiting the Pigeon House.Joyce has succeeded in presenting Dublin as an ineffective city of circularity and entrapment. He is now anxious to erase the protagonists claim I was very happy, from the audiences memories, introducing words such as solemn, sedulous and eventual(prenominal)ly even denotes the characters thoughts as jaded. in that respect is constant, yet capable repetition of the adjective tired the day has become tedious, adventure and escape have proved el usive, and the encounter of a less than legendary sea-farer has confirmed that the protagonist will not find merriment in Dublin, everlastingly doomed to live in the fantasies of comic book and literature.However, despite its lack of event, the day does provide the boys with one notable incident. Aspirations of escape having been superseded, Joyce begins a modern paragraph foc exploitation primarily on the silence and alleviateness of the eventual situation There was nobody but ourselves in the field. We had lain on the bank building for some time without verbaliseing.Through creating such an ominous, yet destruction atmosphere sentences slowly becoming shorter, more concise (defeating imaginative curtain raising as displayed by the boys hitherto) and less picturesque use of vocabulary Joyce signals the acquire for new themes to be introduced. He achieves this through the introduction of a remaining elderly antagonist.The anile man introduces the possibility of in-depth monologue and direct speech. In the conversation with the boys, he seemingly manages to entrap the young protagonist with his root to literature a topic of known interest to the boy and also through cunningly incorporating a sinister circular approach. Joyce is very shrewd to exploit the idea of circularity in his work and in this piece, the level voice of the antagonist and the way his voice slowly circles round and round in the analogous orbit, help to achieve the spellbinding flavor of the man. This proficiency paralyses the fibber, who seemingly drop by the waysides the man to disclose a discourse in the form of a monologue mainly due to his apparent unfitness to interrupt.The politeness evident in the boys character is in hindsight, far from being useful. Joyce implicitly airs his personal views on the dearly-won Jesuit schooling that the protagonist has been subject to by placing the boy in a situation of danger. The progenyant irony learnt social skills being a hindrance also helps highlight Joyces disregard for the church and its establishments.The worry feature of the mans discourse is the implicitly perverse way in which he speaks. He oftentimes refers to the whipping of young boys, with one feels, over-excitable ardour. Joyce establishes the mans odd approach through primarily using such adjectives as magnetised and circle in reference to his thought process. This creates the impression that he is intent on the subject. Secondly, a section of inform speech is introducedWhen a boy was rough and unruly there was vigor would do him any good enough but a good unspoilt whipping what he wanted was to get a nice sore whipping.Joyce emphasises the mans positive outlook on the subject through the use of a positive lexical range there is repetition of the word good firstly as a noun, secondly as an adjective and also use of the adjective nice, which appears somewhat misplaced when used in conjunction with the concept of whipping.The pr otagonists isolation from sympathetic intellectuals due to young age means he is quick to warm to the old man when he talks of literature. In the epiphany, he even appears isolated from his closest friend, Mahoney, and it appears to me that the epiphany of the piece (from the young boys perspective) confirms that the older man has had a profound influence on his views both intellectually and sexually. It appears that after entrapment, the isolation of the nave child has left wing him susceptible to corruption and the encounter has left the boy and the audience with the idea (with undoubted authorial intent) that the worldly concern is not such an innocent place.Such mental metamorphosis is more openly explicit in Edgar Allen Poes work, no epiphanies are evident, yet a first person narrative works to convey the progressively excruciate thoughts of the protagonist to the reader. The Pit and The Pendulum is a piece typical of the nineteenth blow gothic horror writing style. The m ain area of focus is that of psychological terror and mental torture of the protagonist, brought rough through natural agents and physical entrapment and isolation. The style is typical of Poe, aesthetic as opposed to scientific and wholly grotesque.The piece is, in its simplest form, an account of the destruction of the protagonists psyche. Poe begins in medias res by describing the trial of the man, the narrator intently focusing upon his sadnessy and unordered mental state. Syntax used is complex and verbose, helpfully describing the characters inner consciousness and displaying his tangled, entrapping thought processes. The lexical field and imagery employed is especially exotic and indulgent Poe uses metaphorical language peppered with adverbs and adjectives as the candles before the man switch from white slender angels to meaningless spectres, with heads of flame. Another technique which is commonly employed by Poe is that of repetition, in this particular story, Poe o ften relies on the syntactic position of verbs to gradually heighten tension, and prompt his audience. A good example of repetition may be found when the protagonist is awaiting his doom at the hands of the pendulum each new paragraph commences with the preposition downDown steady down it crept Down certainly relentlessly down.. Down still increasingly still inevitably downThis repetition works to give extra strength to the nemesis and increase the tense, anxious and bleak atmosphere. The notion of down is the most important in the authors mind, and the layout of the word on the varlet vividly reflects the terrifying motion of the blades descent and, more importantly, the ever more dejected mental state of the protagonist.A technique used by Poe and also exhibited by Joyce- is that of prolepsis. The fact that the protagonist is often left view of what may be suggests a certain degree of isolation the surrounding atmosphere offering no apparent subjects for the character to focus on in the present. In The Pit and the Pendulum, Poe incorporates a feeling of perpetual uneasiness into the thought processes of his protagonist. There are frequent examples of this which often come about directly before the ghastly prospects of the character are realised as in the heightened, almost hysterical language and excited syntax ofThe result of the slightest struggle, how deadly Was it likely, moreover, that the minions of the torturer had not foreseen and provided for this probability?It is characteristic of Poe to use hyperbole, a technique which creates a melancholy, theatrical feeling often seemingly increasing the grandeur. hyperbole also escalates the terror and entrapment suffered by the protagonist, the indulgent language used portrays a somewhat exaggerated experience to the audience. This technique is supported by massive use of adjective and adverb, commonly negative in effect, as when the protagonist is close to death by the pendulumThe odour of the s harp steel forced itself into my nostrils. I prayed I wearied heaven with my prayer for its more nimble descent. I grew frantically mad, and struggled to force myself upward against the sweep of the fearful scimitar. And and then I fell suddenly calm, and lay smiling at the glittering deathPsychological entrapment in the story is offered in the form of The Pit. To accomplish the desired atmosphere for such a tortured fate, Poe begins to discern the physical surroundings of the protagonist in some detail. The subterranean world of darkness to which the man is instantly subject to is stereotypically associated with Poes genre of writing, the gloom becoming a perfect vehicle to carry an unnerving, mystifying atmosphere. set ahead concern for the antagonist is drawn from the constant reference to his fatigued state and also the dangerously moist and slippery characteristics of the chamber. The tension generated relies heavily on Poes use of syntax the protagonist encounters The P it through a sequence of brief sentencesI proceeded for many paces but still all was blackness and vacancy. I breathed more freely.The length of the sentences and the fact that Poe does not feel it necessary to justify or convolute the thoughts of the protagonist who soon sees his punishment as not the most hideous of fates represents relatively calm and scant(p) thought processes. As the narrator becomes evermore aware of the horrific situation, Poe mirrors his attach terror through increasingly complex syntaxThe difficulty, nevertheless, was but fiddling although, in the disorder of my fancy, it seemed at first insuperable.Poes evidently unreasonable accentuation of punctuation, creating furthermore verbose sentences, achieves a faster movement of thought and a growing sensation of confusion. Eventually, as the protagonist gradually uncovers the secrets of his confinement, a greater fear of entrapment and danger being incubated inside him is realised. Poe displays this thro ugh every quickening pace in complex sentences which are supported with dashes braggy the effect of total bemusement and terror in the protagonist, feelings which almost control to the making of treacherous mistakes. Quite suddenly, with a simple sentence noticeably out of step with the ever-increasing complexity of the syntax the climax of the characters investigation is revealed I stepped on it, and fell violently on my face. With the comprehension of this short, astute sentence, Poe signals that complex syntax hitherto has given sufficient sharpness to the audience and that the tension has peaked.The fact that the piece is written in the form of a first person narrative always suggests in a similar style to James Joyces reflective, possibly older narrator that the protagonist is reminiscing about his exploits, and that ultimately the piece will not end in his death. This is, of course, the case when General Lasalle of the French army comes to the rescue. The ending is exceedingly interest as Poe chooses, unlike the other events of the story, to dramatically reduce proceeding deciding to summarise the rescue in a short paragraph. The tell paragraph uses more restrained syntax exclamation is succeeded by a simple statement which, in the context, appears almost bathetic.The fiery walls rushed masking.. The French army had entered Toledo.It is not entirely clear why Poe has chosen to end the piece in an almost anticlimactic manner. Perhaps he chooses to condense the singular joyful occurrence of the narrative thus maintaining its military strength as a work of horror. Many sources, however, maintain that the storys closure was dictated by demanding time restrictions implemented by Poes publishers5. Another reason for Poe choosing a first person narrator is perhaps that this perspective gives us a stronger feeling of entrapment due to our constant ken of the innermost feelings of the protagonist. The narrative does not, unlike a third person per spective, allow the audience to transcend the situation, providing direct access to the horror which is occurring on the page. There is also no direct speech in the story. This fact reinforces the idea of isolation in the way that the protagonist has no need to speak due to absolute solitude.The grotesque element of Poes work, which quite frequently works as a perversely aesthetic or amatory catalyst for the mental entrapment of the protagonist, is usually evident in the form of a tormentor drawn from nature.6 In The Pit and The Pendulum, psychological suffering is brought on by a swarm of rats. These animals bring negative connotation, as they are associated with such horror as The Plague. They are definitely an effective wile which works to supplement the physical entrapment already being suffered by the protagonist at this time.At one point, Poe also uses fearful images of skeleton forms and such, which spot the surrounding walls. It is stated that these figures have been crea ted by monks, suggesting that this environment is some kind of medieval building not designed specifically for torture. It is therefore interesting to observe how Poe manages to alter these innocent images into emotionally petrifying fiends working as the author will have wished, to terrify the protagonist and therefore, the readership. By introducing entrapment in the form of the wooden framework and hideous vermin, Poe has realised the importance of including both physical and metaphysical entrapment a work of the Gothic horror genre of which he is undeniably a master.1 The Pit and The Pendulum was first published in 1843 for a collection named The Gift, later (revised) for the Broadway Journal in 1985. An Encounter taken from Dubliners was written in 1904 yet published 1914.2 In a letter to his English publisher, Grant Richards, he claimed that his intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the barb because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis. (Letters, II, 134).3 During the summer of 1904, Joyce and his new-found love Nora Barnacle left Ireland for Europe. At An Encounters time of writing, it is most likely that Joyce was reenforcement in Pola Croatia.4 The use of the adverb brown is also evident to the same effect in the story Araby. Entrapment is projected through the brown self-possessed faces of the housing.5 SEE NOTE