Critique comparison

Introduction

Countless critiques have been written to develop an in-depth understanding of the penmanship of the great Edgar Allan Poe. This paper will attempt to contribute to this volume of research by making use of two critiques on an individual work of Edgar Allan Poe; and comparing them to each other in an attempt to acquire a better understanding of the characteristics of Edgar Allan Poe's style of writing. In order to do so, the paper will focus on the manner in which the individual piece of work has been compared in the two critiques - instead of exercising the traditional approach of comparing two different pieces of work by the same writer. It can be inferred therefore that the purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive insight into Edgar Allan Poe's writings. This discussion will be carried out in the context of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat. The discussion will begin with biographical information over the author of the piece and his work and a history of the work being discussed. This will be followed by a summary of the critiques that were read on the chosen piece. The discussion will come to a conclusion after providing a comparison of the two critiques.

The Black Cat is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. In both, a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes that he is unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt.

The first critique is by Daniel Hoffman. He critiqued Edgar Allan Poe 's The Black Cat in his publication Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. The book was published in 1998 by LSU Press. The second critique being taken into consideration in this discussion was penned by Dawn B. Sova in the publication Critical companion to Edgar Allan Poe: a literary reference to his life and work. The critique was published in 2007 by Infobase Publishing.

Discussion

Daniel Hoffman delves deep into the story and quotes specific lines from the story to make present convincing and well substantiated arguments. An example of his approach towards Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat can be evidenced from the fact that he highlights how Edgar Allan Poe's unnamed and cold blooded murderer in The Black Cat exclaimed his pleasure in the complete absence of the creature; and how Edgar Allan Poe then continued with the narration without specifying which creature the protagonist was speaking about (Hoffman). This perspective goes to show that Daniel Hoffman considers Edgar Allan Poe's work to be far more than the combined effect of a plot riddled with characters and a twist or two.

Instead, Daniel Hoffman considers Edgar Allan Poe to be a writer who presents far more to than that which is apparent to the casual reader. It is clear that ...