POE’S PERCEPTION OF DEATH AS REVEALED
IN HIS SHORT STORIES: THE MASK OF THE RED DEATH,
LIGEIA, ANDTHE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Heindra Pradana Student Number: 05 1214 026
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
POE’S PERCEPTION OF DEATH AS REVEALED
IN HIS SHORT STORIES: THE MASK OF THE RED DEATH,
LIGEIA, ANDTHE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Heindra Pradana Student Number: 05 1214 026
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to address my gratitude to those who have so kindly given favors in finishing my thesis.
First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Allah SWT for the never ending love and grace. I thank Allah for guiding me pass the hard time in finishing this thesis.
I am deeply indebted my major sponsor, Henny Herawati, S.Pd., M.Hum., who has patiently given me part of her precious time to read, correct, and improve my thesis and for lending me her books. I am deeply grateful for her suggestion, advice, assistance, and criticism in every part of my study during the completion of this thesis.
I also want to express my great honor to Silvia Rehulina Ginting, S.Pd., for becoming my proof reader and for the suggestions and kindness to me. My great honor also goes to Pak Ouda and Bu Dewi for lending me the books I am dying to find that improves my thesis a lot.
I would like to express my gratitude to all lecturers of English Education Study Program who have given me valuable and everlasting knowledge. The same expression goes to the secretariat staff, Mba Dhanniek and Mba Tari, for helping me in the administration procedures.
vi
brothers, Bonggi Prakosa and Welli Prasetya. What a wonderful family I have with all of you.
I thank all friends of 2005 PBI’s students, especially Adit “Kotak”,
Daniel “Dancong”, Wahyu “Joex”, Rimas, Datia, Tunjung, and Nita for being great partners in Milestone English Course. I thank my partners in Green Leaf English Course, Vivi “Teh Len”, Putri, Ayik, Intan, Siska, and Dee for the great time we share together.
I thank my partners in Language Institute of Sanata Dharma University, Bu Retno, Mba Ita, Mba Nana, Mba Ajeng, Mba Tika especially to Dea “Nyolot”, Dee, Siska, and Tetty, for valuable experience I have with all of you. I thank the members of Youth English Community, Mba Icha, Mas Nug, Mas
Ponk, Mba Venta, Mba Retno, Siska “Oneng”, Tunjung, Jojo, Banu, Rista,
Laras, for the chance to develop myself with all of you, for the laughter, cry, and fear we share. I also thank Sedik, Tepan, and Hesti for being my lifetime partners.
My special thank goes to my beloved Maria Eka Lestari who always accompanies me even in difficult time. I thank her for the great love, support, and understanding.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all people who I cannot mention their names, for their support and prayer so that I can finish this thesis. May Allah SWT grant them with peace, joy, and happiness.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE…….………..………... i
APPROVAL PAGES……... ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS... vii
ABSTRACT... x
ABSTRAK……… xi
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study………
B. Problem Formulation……….
C. Objectives of the Study……….
D. Benefits of the Study……….
E. Definition of Terms………
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Theoretical Review……….
1.Critical Approach………...
2.Theory of Gothic Fiction……… B. Critical Biography of Edgar Allan Poe………...
viii
C. Theoretical Framework………... 15
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study……….
B. Approach of the Study………
C. Method of the Study………
16 18 19
CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS
A. Edgar Allan Poe’s Perception of Death as Revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado……….
1. Death Figure………...
2. The Cause of Death………...………
3. The Characters’ View of Death…….………... B. How Poe’s Perception of Death as Revealed in The Mask of the Red
Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado Reflects His Life………
21
1.Suggestion for Future Research……… 2. Suggestion for English Language Teaching………....
ix
Appendix 1
Lesson Plan and Material of Teaching Intensive Reading II………... 46
Appendix 2
Lesson Plan and Material of Teaching Public Speaking I………... 58
Appendix 3
x
ABSTRACT
Pradana, Heindra. (2009). Poe’s Perception of Death as Revealed in His Short Stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
Death is one of many phenomena that must be faced by every single person in this world. People perceive and face death differently from one to another. This has inspired me to conduct this study. This study discusses Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado which present and reveal death.
There are two issues that are discussed in this thesis. They are (1) what is Poe’s perception of death as revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado? and (2) how does Poe’s perception of death as revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado reflect Poe’s life?
The method employed in this study is library research. I obtained the data from the three short stories themselves as the primary source. Whereas the secondary sources which are used to answer the issues above are the references from books and electronic articles about literary works and the life of Edgar Allan Poe which are supportive and relevant to this study. The approach I used to analyze the issues is biographical approach since this study refers to the life of Edgar Allan Poe.
The conclusion of the analysis is that in the three short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe perceives death as something fearful, terrible and horrifying, and not the calm and peaceful one. It can be seen in the analysis by comparing the death figure, the cause of death, and the characters’ view of death in those three short stories.
Edgar Allan Poe’s perception of death as seen in his short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado is influenced by his real life. During his life, he experienced seeing and facing death of the persons he loved and most of them were so tragic and left great sadness to him. Moreover, his life is rarely happy. He often quarreled with his foster father that led to his intention to take a revenge to his foster father. Those experiences of life are reflected in the work of Edgar Allan Poe as his perception of death itself.
xi ABSTRAK
Pradana, Heindra. (2009). Poe’s Perception of Death as Revealed in His Short Stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Kematian adalah salah satu dari banyak fenomena yang harus dihadapi oleh setiap orang di dunia ini. Orang-orang melihat dan menghadapi kematian dengan cara yang berbeda satu dengan yang lain. Hal ini telah menginsiprasi saya dalam melakukan penelitian ini. Penelitian ini mendiskusikan tentang cerita pendek Edgar Allan Poe: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado yang menyuguhkan dan mengungkapkan kematian.
Ada dua isu yang akan didiskusikan dalam skripsi ini, yaitu (1) apa persepsi Poe tentang kematian sebagaimana terlihat di The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado dan (2) bagaimana persepsi Poe tentang kematian sebagaimana terlihat di The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado menggambarkan kehidupan Poe.
Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah studi pustaka. Saya mengumpulkan data dari tiga cerita pendek tersebut sebagi sumber utama. Sedangkan sumber tambahan yang digunakan untuk menjawab isu di atas adalah referensi dari buku-buku dan artikel elektronik tentang karya sastra dan kehidupan Edgar Allan Poe yang mendukung dan sesuai dengan penelitian ini. Pendekatan yang saya gunkan untuk menganalisa isu-isu tersebut adalah pendekatan biografi karena penelitian ini berkenaan dengan kehidupan Edgar Allan Poe.
Kesimpulan dari analisa adalah bahwa di dalam tiga cerita pendek: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe melihat kematian sebagai sesuatu yang menakutkan, mengerikan, dan bukan yang tenang dan damai. Hal ini dapat dilihat di dalam analisa dengan membandingkan sosok kematian, penyebab kematian, dan pandangan karakter terhadap kematian dalam tiga cerita pendek tersebut.
Persepsi Edgar Allan Poe tentang kematian sebagaimana terlihat di cerita pendek karyanya: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado dipengaruhi oleh kehidupan nyatanya. Selama hidupnya, Poe mengalami, melihat, dan menghadapi kematian dari orang-orang yang dicintainya. Terlebih lagi, hidupnya sangat jarang sekali bahagia, dia sering bertengkar dengan ayah angkatnya dan berujung pada keinginannya untuk membalas dendam. Pengalaman-pengalaman tersebut direfleksikan dalam karyanya sebagai persepsinya tentang kematian itu sendiri.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of five parts. They are the background of study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms. In background of the study, the writer discusses the reason of choosing the topic. In problem formulation, the writer exemplifies the research problems. Objectives of the study explain the goal of the study. Benefits of the study give explanation on who can get benefits from the study. In the last part, the writer discusses the definition of some terms related to the study.
A. Background of the Study
Reading literary works can enrich our mind with knowledge. Literary works portray the reality of social life. Danziger and Johnson stated that stories are the imitation of varied experience of human being, the imitation of our life, including human relationship (34). There are many phenomena that can be found in daily life and they are imitated in literary works. From the literary works we can also find the point of view of the author. They show us the way of thinking of the author about something. Moreover, an author usually writes stories based on his or her experience in the society where he or she lives.
something. Hence, from short stories we are able to find the reflection of life based on the author’s perception.
Since literary works portray the phenomena in our life, different kinds of phenomena, such as falling in love, sadness, even death are commonly found in literary works. Those phenomena are usually felt and experienced by the character(s) in the story. The phenomena which happen in our life can be categorized into two groups, planned and unplanned. Some examples of planned phenomena are marriage, graduation, baby born, while one obvious unplanned phenomenon is death. People cannot escape from death and we are all going to die.
Death as one of various phenomena of our life is often presented in stories. Edgar Allan Poe is one of famous authors who often present death in his stories, even in almost all of his works. The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado are some examples of his works which are related to death. In those short stories, he presents death itself through various symbols.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background stated above, there are two things that would be discussed by the writer in this study. They are:
1. What is Poe’s perception of death as revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado?
2. How does Poe’s perception of death as revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado reflect Poe’s life?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are first, to discuss Poe’s perception of death as revealed in his works: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. The second one, this study aims to exemplify the relation of Poe’s perception of death with his personal life.
D. Benefits of the Study
There are three benefits of this study. First, this study is hoped to share knowledge and understanding of Edgar Allan Poe and his works. This study can hopefully give additional information for readers who want to study literature especially American short stories by Edgar Allan Poe.
The third benefit is that this study provides activities to English Language teaching. By employing the excerpts of the short stories, one can create materials to teach students in the advanced level because the excerpts provide authentic materials.
E. Definition of terms
1. Perception
Perception refers to “the way you notice things, especially with senses”. (Oxford Advanced Learner’ Dictionary 986). Whereas according to Lindsay and Norman as re-quoted from www.sapdesignguild.org say “Perception is the process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world” (“Introduction to Perception: Definition of Perception”). This study discusses Poe’s perception of death. Hence it means his point of view of death based on his three short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado.
2. Death
Death refers to the end of life. It is stated when the being organs are not functioned to support the life system. However, “death” may be the meaning beyond that (Warga 583). He says that there are actually three kinds of death. They are: physical death, sociological death, and psychological death.
oxygen” (6). In this study, death is the physical death, the state when the being organs are not functioned to support the life system of the characters in the stories. Death in this study also refers to the death of people in Edgar Allan Poe’s life.
3. Short story
Short story is a literary genre of fictional prose narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction such as novellas (in the modern sense of the term) and novels (“Short Story”). Whereas taken from Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, short story is:
“Brief fictional prose narrative. It usually presents a single significant episode or scene involving a limited number of characters. The form encourages economy of setting and concise narration; character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but seldom fully developed. A short story may concentrate on the creation of mood rather than the telling of a story.” (“short story”)
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In conducting this study, I present some theories which are relevant to the analysis of the short stories. This chapter consists of three sections to be discussed: theoretical review, critical biography of Edgar Allan Poe, and theoretical framework. Theoretical review consists of two sub-sections: critical approach and theory of gothic fiction. Critical approach explains the approach that I applied in this study which is biographical approach. Theory of gothic fiction explains the features of gothic fiction. Critical biography of Edgar Allan Poe exemplifies the biography of Edgar Allan Poe. Theoretical framework explains how the theories are applied in the analysis of this study.
A. Theoretical Review
1. Critical Approach
Biographical approach is an approach which concerns highly on the appreciation of the author’s idea and personality. Moreover, the work of the author can be said as the reflection of the author’s personality. Using this approach means people have to get as much information and data as possible about the author’s life and development hence they can understand the work of the author better (Rohrberger 8). It is believed that a piece of literary work reflects the emotion, feeling, ideas and personality of the author in reference to his/her personal life.
According to Wellek and Warren, there are several usages of biographical approach: first, it may explain great many allusions or even words in an author’s work; second, it will help us in understanding the most obvious of all strictly developmental problems in the history of literature – the growth, maturation, and possible decline of the author’s works; third, it accumulates materials for other questions of literary history such as author’s personal association with literary men, author’s travels, the landscape, and cities he lived in (Wellek and Warren 79).
2. Theory of Gothic Fiction
The term “gothic” actually can be used to express both art and architecture. Gothic as one of the popular themes in literature was first exposed by Horace Walpole in his novel The Castle of Otranto which was published in 1764 (“Gothic Literature”). Since then, gothic as a literature theme was widely explored and used.
There are some prominent features of gothic fiction. As quoted from Drabble and Stringer,
“Frightening or horrifying stories of various kinds have been told in all ages, but the literary tradition confusingly designated as ‘Gothic’ is a distinct modern development in which the characteristic theme is the stranglehold of the past upon the present, or the encroachment of the ‘dark’ ages of oppression upon the ‘enlightened’ modern era.” (“Gothic Fiction”).
When reading gothic fiction or sometimes known as dark romanticism, some typical features that can be found are:
a. Terror
Anne Radcliffe differentiates the term terror and horror. According to her, terror "expands the soul, and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life" (Radcliffe 643). In gothic fiction, readers can find two kinds of terror that are psychological or physical terror. In other words, terror is something fearful because it is surrounded by gloom and mystery.
b. Mystery
is often related to detective or crime story, there is another kind of mystery, which is supernatural mystery. Edgar Allan Poe is one of famous writers who writes mystery fiction both detective or crime stories and supernatural mystery (“Mystery (fiction)”)
c. Supernatural
According to Marriam-Webster Dictionary, supernatural pertains to an order of existence beyond the scientifically visible universe (“supernatural”). In fiction supernatural appears as supernatural power such as curse, spells and magic or belief to the life after death. In real life, however, supernatural beliefs exist in many societies around the world (“Supernatural”).
d. Ghosts
Ghost means the apparition of the dead people’s spirit. There are many stories of ghosts that can be found. Many writers from many genres present ghost in their story (“Ghost”). Ghost does not always appear as something fearful and scary, sometimes it can appear as something that brings happiness and hope. A famous story that presents ghosts is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
e. Murder
diminished capacity (“Murder”). From those circumstances, insanity, depression, and self-defense are common presented in gothic fiction.
However, there are still some features that can be found in gothic fiction other than those mentioned above. They are haunted houses or gothic architecture, madness, and death itself. Gothic architecture reminds us to our nightmare. Madness is presented as the irrational or abnormal behavior and thoughts of character(s) in the story. Whereas death is presented as not only physical death, but also the death of beauty and the death of God are even more common themes in gothic fiction (“Distinctive Features of Dark Romanticism”).
Many critics to Edgar Allan Poe say that one of Poe’s specialties is tale about terror or in other words gothic. One of them can be seen in Daniel Hoffman’s Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe: “Where could I have read so terrifying a tale, so horrifying a predicament, so inescapable a servitude to the inexorable movement of time, but in the work of Edgar Allan Poe?” (Hoffman). Therefore, it is necessary to mention the features of gothic fiction in this chapter.
B. Critical Biography of Edgar Allan Poe
His father left the family less than a year after Edgar’s birth and his mother who was ill died on December 8, 1811. Poe was taken into the home of John Allan who became his foster mother. This family educated Poe until they moved back to Richmond. There, little Poe made a good friendship with Ebenezer Burling. At this age Poe had showed amazing ability for remembering details and creating ideas from his own imagination. He even wrote poetry on little bits of paper. He wrote almost everything in his poetry: pretty girls he met, romanticism, and even his later specialty, horror and death (Porges 2-12).
Day by day passed by, because of some economic problems related to his companies, Poe’s foster father got very busy and sensitive and he spent less time with Poe. However, Poe still had companions from Rob Stanard and Robert Mayo. One day, Rob Stanard introduced his mother to Poe and somehow little Poe loved Mrs. Stanard very much. Mrs. Stanard gave her affection to Poe, she listened to his poetry and she comforted Poe. Poe adored Mrs. Stanard very much, but later Mrs. Stanard became very ill and on April 28, 1824 she died. This fact shocked and dragged Poe in a deep sorrow. He lost his first perfect love, Mrs. Jane Stanard and it was taking a long time to make him recovered from the sorrow. He recovered from his sorrow after he re-wrote the script of famous Greek story, Helen of Troy, and he changed it into To Helen which represented his great love to Mrs. Stanard. He never knew that death, terror, and evil things would always be near to him (Porges 22-28).
to go to University of Virginia and of course Poe was happy and worried at the same time since he had to leave Elmyra, his “girlfriend” and of course his foster mother and Aunt Nancy. He promised to come back to Myra and he would marry her when he came back. At the University of Virginia, Poe began his studies in schools of ancient and modern language but life in university was not the same as his expectation. Poe described people in University as wild people; they were drinking liquor, fighting among each other, and gambling. Not surprisingly, Poe was influenced by his surroundings. He started to play and his gambling debts were increasing a lot and these made Allan mad. Allan never sent him money again since that and seemed that he did not care about Poe’s future. Being frustrated, Poe decided to move to Boston in April 1827 (Porges 37-53).
Baltimore and lived there with his grandmother, his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, his cousin, Virginia, and his elder brother, Henry who was sick. There, his poems titled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Other Poems was published by Hatch and Dunning in November. Poe went back to his home in Richmond where his foster father who was pleased by his success and his aunt lived. It was not long until he quarreled again with his father and left the house. On August 2, 1831 his brother, Henry Poe died (Porges 55-72).
Edgar lived with his grandmother, aunt, and cousin poorly. He sent his works several times to competitions or newspapers but he got no payment from that until he won one of them. On October 12, 1833 The Visiter announced the Manuscript Found in a Bottle as the winner. Edgar won the $50 prize. That was his beginning of success but in early 1834 he heard that Allan’s health was failing rapidly so he went to visit him but he was refused by Allan and he was kicked out from the house. When, John Allan finally died on March 27, Edgar did not get any cent from him. Moving back to Baltimore, Poe started to write stories for the Southern Literary Messenger and received small payments from that. However, another shocking incident happened when his grandmother, Mrs. David Poe died on July 7. It was a great sadness to the whole family including Edgar Allan Poe. Loneliness yet led Edgar to drink and use opium (Porges 73-93).
beautiful pale skin, high forehead, and bright eyes was perfect woman” (Porges 95). Later he used Virginia for his biggest inspiration for some stories such as Berenice, Eleonora, and Ligeia. The story of Ligeia was printed in a Baltimore Magazine in 1838. The characteristics of Ligeia were like his dear Virginia. During this success period, Poe’s works such as The Fall of the House of Usher (1839), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), and The Gold Bug (1843) were printed (Porges 95-106).
After the death of his beloved wife, Virginia, Poe started to drink heavily and moved from city to city. He also made relationships to several older women. However, Poe still wrote some stories during this period such as Hop-Frog. Edgar Allan Poe died on Sunday, October 7, 1849 after previously carried to Washington College Hospital on Wednesday, October 3 (Edgar Allan Poe).
C. Theoretical Framework
In this section, I summarize and synthesize the contribution of the theories mentioned in the analysis of this study. In this study, I carried out biographical approach to support my analysis since the object of the study is Edgar Allan Poe’s works titled The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado and the problem is the relation of Poe’s life and his perception of death as revealed in those works of Poe. In addition, to develop understanding about Poe’s perception of death as revealed in his three works, I used some distinctive features of gothic fiction to compare the elements of those stories; they are the death figure (ghost or the supernatural), the cause of the death, and the characters’ view of the death. After understanding his perception of death, I could do the analysis about its relation with his life.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology in this study. There are three subtitles in this chapter. They are: object of the study in which the information on the short stories is presented; approach of the study, discussion on the approaches I applied in this study; and method of the study which tells about the procedures of gathering and arranging the data used in writing this thesis.
A. Object of the Study
mysterious figure, Prospero tries to catch him. They run throughout the rooms and when finally Prince Prospero can catch the figure, he falls and suddenly dies. Other guests try to attack the figure but they find nobody inside the mask and cloak. Finally all of them die because the Red Death has come inside the palace (The Mask of the Red Death, Edgar Allan Poe: A Collection of Stories).
Collection of Stories). This story was first published in 1838 in a Baltimore Magazine.
The last short story is The Cask of Amontillado which was first published in 1846 in Godey’s. It tells a story about Fortunato who loves the Spanish wine of Amontillado. However, his close friend, Montressor feels insulted by him somehow and he wants to make revenge. In a carnival season Montressor who wears a mask of black silk approaches Fortunato who wears multicolored costume of the jester, including a cone cap with bells and lures him with Amontillado. They go to Montressor’s vault and because of his curiosity to the Amontillado, Fortunato does not care about his cough and the men walk into the vault, where human bones decorated the walls. When finally they find the Amontilado and Fortunato gets drunk because of it, Montressor binds him with chain to a stone. Montressor then blocks the entrance and traps Fortunato inside the vault. Fortunato screams and at the first time he thinks that it is only a joke made by Montressor. Finally Montressor finishes his job and leaves Fortunato, he buries Fortunato alive (The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe: A Collection of Stories).
B. Approach of the Study
In addition, I analyzed Poe’s perception of death as revealed in his works: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado. Hence, I attempted to use the features in the text of his works which are the death figure, the cause of the character’s death, and the view or reaction of the character(s) towards death in comparing his three works to reveal his perception of death.
C. Method of the Study
In this study, I carried out library study. It means that I tried to gather and compile data by doing researches from books. I also used electronic sources to enhance the data as the secondary sources.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This section is devoted to answer the problems of the research. As stated before, the problems of this research are first, Poe’s perception of death as revealed in his three stories The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado and second, how his perception of death as revealed in his stories reflects his life.
There are two parts of this section. First, Edgar Allan Poe’s perception of death as revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. This part discusses Poe’s perception of death which I revealed from his three stories. Second, how Poe’s perception of death as revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado reflects his life, which exemplifies the relation between Poe’s perception of death and his life.
A. Edgar Allan Poe’s Perception of Death as Revealed in The Mask of the
Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado
view of death in three of his stories The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado.
1. Death Figure
In The Mask of the Red Death, Poe creates a horrible disease called the “red death” which attacks a country for a long time as the death figure. As quoted from the story, “No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal -- the redness and the horror of blood.” (The Mask of the Red Death).
He describes that no one can run or hide from the horrible power of death even Prince Prospero who thinks that he can escape from it. Further in the story, Poe shows another death figure, the mysterious figure appearing in the middle of the party. This figure represents the Red Death plague itself. Poe describes the figure as tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The figure wears a scary mask. Unlike any other whom wears colorful mask, this mysterious figure wears black robe and scary mask with blood-like spots over his body. Of course, this figure creates horror, terror and fear among the guests and Prince Prospero himself (The Mask of the Red Death).
like Rowena but Ligeia with her black hair as raven. She revives from death and stands up in the bridal room:
“I stirred not--but gazed upon the apparition. There was a mad disorder in my thoughts-a tumult unappeasable. Could it, indeed be the living Rowena who confronted me? Could it indeed be Rowena at all--the fair-haired, the blue-eyed Lady Rowena of Trevanion of Tremaine? Why, why should I doubt it? The bandage lay heavily about the mouth—but then might it not be the mouth of the breathing Lady of Tremaine? And the cheeks—there were the roses as in her noon of life—yes, these might indeed be the fair cheeks of the living Lady of Tremaine. … One bound and I had reached her feet! Shrinking from my touch, she let fall from her head the gastly cerements which had confined it; and three streamed forth, into the rushing atmosphere of the chamber, huge masses of long and disheveled hair; it was blacker than the wings of the midnight! And now slowly opened the eyes of the figure which stood before me. “Here then, at least,” I shrieked aloud, “can I never—can I never be mistaken—these are the full, and the black, and the wild eyes—of my lost love—of the lady—of the LADY LIGEIA!” (Ligeia).
The death figure in this story comes to life and haunts the narrator by her apparition.
In the third short story, The Cask of Amontillado, there is no significant or obvious death figure as in The Mask of the Red Death and Ligeia. The death figure in this story is implicitly stated at the end of the story when it comes to the readers to know that the sequences of revenge by the Montressor are done fifty years before he tells the story:
“My heart grew sick -- on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I rejected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them”. (The Cask of Amontillado).
Fortunato must have been rotten and turns into skeleton of a human death body. Another death figure presented in the story is the scattered skeletons in the vault.
It can be seen that the death figures presented in those three short stories are used to create an atmosphere of terror and horror. Poe knows very well how to make gothic tales using the power of death itself as one of the characteristics of gothic fiction. Here, it is quite clear that, in those three stories, Poe perceives death as something fearful with great terror to the characters of the stories. His perception of death is shown by the presence of death figures in the short stories. He employs the death figures to shape his perception of death.
2. The Cause of Death
In the story of The Mask of the Red Death, the death of the characters, in this case Prince Prospero and his guests, is caused by the apparition of the mysterious figure itself. When the figure appears in the party, Prince Prospero and his guests are shocked but nobody dares enough to catch the figure. Prince Prospero tries to catch and to unmask the figure. When finally cornered in the last chamber and Prince Prospero tries to grasp the figure, he finds nobody inside the cloaks but ironically he and the whole companion die in sudden because as mentioned before, the mysterious figure represents the Red Death plague (The Masque of the Red Death).
The fact that Prince Prospero and his guests die in sudden after the apparition of the mysterious figure shows supernatural power and unsolved mystery in the story. The death caused by the Red Death is not the peaceful and calm one, but death as something horrifying and gloomy with unbearable pain. As he illustrates the effects of it to the victim’s body with frightening incident:
“There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.” (“The Mask of the Red Death”)
The death that happens in the story of Ligeia is caused by mysterious illness. Gradually after the narrator’s marriage with Ligeia, she becomes mysteriously ill. Although Rowena’s case is different, she gets ill because of the narrator’s intention to make her die so that the spirit of Ligeia can use her body or in other words murder; finally those two ladies die (Ligeia).
As quoted from American Literature The Makers and the Making by Cleanth Brooks et.al, “Consider Poe’s typical heroines. They are usually afflicted with mysterious disease. They visibly waste away before their lovers’ eyes.” (360). In this story, Ligeia gets ill because of mysterious disease. In Ligeia, he illustrates how sorrowful and terrible the death of a beautiful and lovely woman is. As many critics to Edgar Allan Poe say: Poe’s greatest specialty is the death of a beautiful woman. This fact is supported by Porges, when Poe was thinking about how to create a powerful poem:
question: WHEN IS DEATH THE MOST POETIC? Edgar knew that, too: when it comes to the death of a beautiful woman.” (124).
With his brilliant mind concerning death, Poe creates another story about death, The Cask of Amontillado. This time the major theme is about revenge. Montressor, whose heart is hurt, wants to revenge Fortunato. Using amontillado as lure, he brings Fortunato to the vault. The atmosphere inside the vault is used by Poe to create horror and gloominess which finally delivers us to the death of Fortunato. Deluded by the amontillado, Fortunato is chained to the wall and burried alive in the vault by Montressor. Realizing what actually happens to him, Fortunato screams and begs Montressor to set him free, but it is too late. Fortunato dies because of dehydration and starvation inside the vault (The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe: A Collection of Stories).
3. The Characters’ View of Death
Earlier in the story of The Mask of the Red Death, Poe tells the readers that Prince Prospero is happy, hopeful, but at the same time worried. He is happy because the deadly plague does not infect him. He then decides to seal the gate and ignores the condition outside his palace in which many people are killed by the Red Death (“The Masque of the Red Death”). Poe shows the readers that Prince Prospero is afraid of death to come to him. We can see further about this from the reaction of Prince Prospero when a strange figure comes up during the party. He feels insulted, mad and afraid. Though he is afraid, his madness forces him to unmask and get the figure which finally leads him to death itself.
Due to Ligeia’s illness, the narrator becomes so worried. He accompanies Ligiea until her death. After the death of Ligeia, he feels so broken hearted and miserable. To get rid of these feelings, he starts to drink and use opium. Again, Poe creates the narrator becomes mad and obsessed. Therefore, when he later gets married to Rowena, the image of Ligeia and her death are haunting him. He starts to give poison to Rowena so that he can revive Ligeia back using the body of Rowena (Ligeia).
Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe: A Collection of Stories). However, Poe has ever created the same plot of death in Berenice and the Fall of the House of Usher through one of the characters, Madeline, in which in this story the character is Fortunato. They have great fear of death by being buried alive although actually they are already buried alive (Cleanth Brooks et.al 359).
According to Bergen in his book Old Boston in Early Photographs, Poe got the idea to write about The Cask of Amontillado from a story he heard in Castle Island when he was still joining the army (106). The story he heard was about a revenge done by some soldiers to Lieutenant Gustavis Drane because he had killed one of their friends. The soldiers made Gustavis drunk then brought him to the dungeon, tied him to the wall and left him alone there (Susan 37). Although it was years after he heard about the story, Poe could still remember it very clearly as it was just told.
B. How Poe’s Perception of Death as Revealed in The Mask of the Red
Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado Reflects His Life
Being a man surrounded by death and terrible situation makes almost the entire collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s works is about death. This includes his three short stories The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado.
As quoted from The Norton Anthology of American Literature, “The life of Poe is the most melodramatic of any the major American writers of his generation.” (1353). Death seems very close in Poe’s life. During his life, Poe experienced several deaths happened and most of them were the deaths of people he loved. They were: the death of his mother, Mrs. Jane Stanard, his foster mother, his elder brother, his foster mother, his grandmother, and finally his beloved Virginia.
Time during which Poe wrote the story of The Mask of the Red Death was occupied with sorrow for Poe himself. The inspiration of this short story may have been the incident that happened when he and Virginia attended a party in January 1842. As quoted from Porges:
“The new year, 1842, brought Edgar a new sorrow which made past sufferings seem small. One evening in January, Edgar sat with a few friends listening to Virginia sing. Suddenly the high, clear voice stopped and blood poured from her throat. Edgar rushed to catch her as she fell to the floor. She was carried to a bed and Edgar went to bring the doctor. Virginia was suffering from a serious disease, the same one that had taken the life of Henry Poe.” (112).
that killed his mother, his foster mother and his elder brother earlier. When he created The Mask of the Red Death, he created a horrible disease which was similar with tuberculosis called the Red Death plague. The story which tells the useless effort of Price Prospero to stop and avoid the death to come is reflected by Poe’s own action and attempts to make Virginia better. Edgar Allan Poe would do anything to make Virginia recovered. However it was nonsense, the health of Virginia was getting worse day by day. He tried to ignore the fatality of the disease just like Prince Prospero does (Kenneth 108). Virginia died on January 30, 1847 at the age of 24. This really shocked Edgar and this was the greatest tragedy in his life. He lost a person he loved more than everything; a lovely person who was always there to accompany him during the suffering time and to hope for a better future with her great faith and love (Porges 95-128).
from Poe’s lost of Mrs. Stannard when he was young, as at that time he adored Mrs. Stannard so much and felt terribly sorrowful when she died. It was when he was the age of 15, as taken from Edgar Allan Poe by Porges, he felt the first purely first love of his soul to Mrs. Stanard, one of his friends’ mother. When finally Mrs. Stanard died on April 28, 1824, young Poe was drowning to deep sorrow. He lost his closest friend who gave him encouragement he needed badly (25-26). The narrator’s fear to his beloved’s death in Poe’s real life can reflect his fear to the death of people he loves. Since he had lost Mrs. Stannard, Mrs. Allan and other people he loved, he was afraid of losing anybody else, especially at that moment his lovely wife, Virginia. So, in Ligeia, Poe created the story that somehow the great love of the narrator revives the dead Ligeia through the body of Rowena. As quoted from sparknotes.com:
“The loving memory of a grieving husband revives a dead wife. “Ligeia” breaks down the barrier between life and death, but not just to scare the reader. Instead, the memory of the dead shows the power of love to resist even the permanence of death” (“Ligeia”).
Due to the bad health of Virginia, Poe, Virginia, and his aunt moved to a farmhouse owned by Patrick Brennan (Porges123). It does not mean that Poe stopped writing there. With his brilliant mind concerning death, Poe created another story about death, this time the major theme was about revenge titled The Cask of Amontillado.
re-quoted from Martha Womack’s essay Edgar Allan Poe’s: The Cask of Amontillado:
“Montresor tries to convince the reader that his intentions are honorable in an effort to uphold his family motto. "Nemo me impune lacessit" is also the national motto of Scotland. Kenneth Silverman, in his book Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance, makes reference to the fact that it is not an accident or similarity that Poe chooses this particular motto. It is one that would remind Poe of another Scotsman, John Allan, his foster father. Allan, "much resembled Fortunato in being a man 'rich, respected, admired, beloved,' interested in wines, and a member of the Masons." Silverman continues by saying, that even the Allan name can be seen as an anagram in Amontillado (Silverman 317).
The relation between Poe and his foster father was never been good. During the sad period when Poe did not have anything which forced him to ask money to his foster father until the last period of Mr. John Allan’s life, they had bad relationship. When Mr. John Allan’s health was failing gradually, Poe decided to make a visit to him. However, Mr. John Allan kicked him out from the house and asked him never to go back to the house. Even when he died, Poe did not get anything from his foster father (Porges 83-84). This led to Poe’s intention to take “revenge” in this case by proofing to his foster father that he was able to reach success through his ability of writing, the ability which was never been recognized by his foster father (62).
Further inspiration for the tale may have come from “a bitter quarrel” in 1846 that developed between Poe and “the cohorts of the vengeful Mrs. Ellet led by Thomas Dunn English and Hiram Fuller”, with “The Cask of Amontillado” being “the working out of [Poe’s] immediate emotions” (Sucur).
34
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This last chapter consists of two parts. The first part is the conclusions of the discussions of Edgar Allan Poe’s perception of death as seen in his short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. The second part is suggestions for future research and for the implementation of these literary works in English language teaching.
A. Conclusions
As one of many authors who often writes stories about death, Edgar Allan Poe must have his own perception about death itself. This fact has drawn my attention to do analysis and this is the time to answer the formulated problems above. As mentioned previously, I tried to figure out Poe’s perception on death as revealed in his three short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado.
The death figures that appear in those stories are the Red Death plague and the masked figure in The Mask of the Red Death, the dead body of Ligeia and Rowena in Ligeia, and Fortunato’s corpse in the vault in The Cask of Amontillado. The second element discussed is the cause of the death. In The Mask of the Red Death, the death of Prince Prospero and his guests is caused by the Red Death plague and somehow we can see that there is a supernatural power from the mysterious masked figure that makes them die in sudden. In Ligeia, death is caused by two different things. The first one is the death of Lady Ligeia which is caused by a mysterious disease and the second one is Lady Rowena’s death which is caused by the poison given by the narrator who is her husband himself, or in other words, she dies because of murder. The same thing happens in The Cask of Amontillado. Montressor wants to take revenge to Fortunato. He chains Fortunato on the wall and seals the vault. He leaves Fortunato in the vault until he finally dies. Hence, it can be seen that the cause of death in The Cask of Amontillado is murder.
deviant types. He also combines such events and discusses in such a tone to produce the greatest possible horrifying effects on the readers (Baym 1356-1357).
It becomes the nature of Edgar Allan Poe to create tales of terror that represent his perception of death. The way Poe perceives death is affected by his real life. In the discussion part, it is clearly seen that several incidents in his life triggered him to create his three stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. Those incidents affect the way he perceives death and indirectly affect his stories.
It can be seen in The Mask of the Red Death which is influenced by Virginia’s sickness and the way Poe responds to that situation. Referring to the biography of Edgar Allan Poe, the fact that Virginia got tuberculosis at that time really saddened Poe. He was so terrified and tremendously afraid of losing his beloved wife. Moreover, realizing the truth that tuberculosis was a deathly disease with terrible symptoms at that time; the disease that killed some members of his family previously, The Mask of the Red Death is very much influenced from this incident of his life.
fact describes Poe feeling when he lost Mr. Stannard and his fear of losing Virginia.
The last story, The Cask of Amontillado, is about revenge and murder. Self-tormented Montressor makes revenge to Fortunato by chaining him on the wall and sealing him in the vault. The theme revenge is inspired and triggered by his personal intention in taking a revenge to his foster father and the quarrel due to a protest to his criticism. He combines the theme, revenge, with the story he heard with the same theme when he was still joining the army.
In conclusion, it is obvious that the nature of death in Edgar Allan Poe’s stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado is affected by his own perception about death. He perceives death as something that creates terror and sadness, something fearful, horrifying, not the peaceful one. This perception is illustrated in those stories. It is also obvious that his perception of death is influenced by incidents and more often tragedy in his real life. He happened to see and experience the coming of death to the people he loved. He happened to feel deep sorrow, great pain, and anger during his life. However, these experiences enrich his creation in this case as shown in his short stories The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado.
B. Suggestions
Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. The second part is suggestion of using literature in English Language Teaching.
1. Suggestion for Future Research
I realize that the analysis I make in this study is not perfect yet. It is impossible for me to discuss all about Edgar Allan Poe and his three works: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. Hence, there are still some topics that will be interesting to be analyzed further.
For anyone who intends to write an analysis about Edgar Allan Poe and his three works, I suggest analyzing the three short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado using formalism approach. I believe that the readers will have deeper feeling to the works of Edgar Allan Poe and gothic fiction in general if we have deep understanding about the texts of the stories themsleves. By using the features in the stories such as grammar, syntax, and tropes one can conduct critical analysis to the stories in order to grasp understanding towards them.
character’s behaviour could be referred to the psychology of human being. Hence through this approach the character’s thought and behaviour can be analyzed more profoundly (13-14).
2. Suggestion for English Language Teaching
This part discusses the implementation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado as the material in language teaching. I will apply them in speaking for the fields of implementation.
Reading is more often for pleasure. People read magazine, newspaper, and literary works such as novel and short stories in their spare time for pleasure. I believe that literary works can be used to teach English especially in teaching English as foreign language. McKay states that, “Literature will increase all language skills because literature will extend linguistic knowledge by giving evidence of extensive and subtle vocabulary usage, and complex and exact syntax” (191). Moreover, besides improving linguistic knowledge, literature can improve understanding about culture and life as according to Lazar, literature can provide students with an access to the culture of the people whose language is being studied (16). Hence, it is obvious that literature is useful in language learning.
students, so that it stimulates personal involvement of the students. While exploitability means the text should facilitate the students to learn language. Last criterion is readability which means the text is suitable with the level of difficulty of the students (2). Referring to Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, andThe Cask of Amontillado, it can be seen that those stories are long enough especially Ligeia, moreover the language used by Edgar Allan Poe is quite complex with various kinds of diction. Therefore, Edgar Allan Poe short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado are suitable for students in the advanced level who already master sufficient vocabulary and have proficiency to read the stories.
a. The Implementation in Teaching Reading
Reading is a process held by the reader to get the message, which is revealed by the writer through written language or words. If one cannot fulfill this, both the explicit and implicit will not be either grasped or comprehended, and the reading process itself is not done well (Widowson 23). Reading is one of the most important skills in language learning.
teacher should not force his/her interpretation about the literary text but he/she should let the students to give their own opinion and interpretation about the text.
The next is steps how the teacher can implement the literary text which is Edgar Allan Poe’s short story: The Cask of Amontillado in teaching learning process to advanced level students.
1) The teacher divides the story into three parts.
2) The teacher distributes the excerpts a week before. Students read the excerpt at home.
3) The teacher gives question to draw students’ attention by brainstorming the word “death”.
4) The teacher divides the students into groups (each group consists of three students).
5) The students figure out the main idea of the excerpt. 6) The students arrange the excerpts into logical short story.
7) The students answer the questions about detail information of the story. 8) The teacher chairs a discussion on the answers of the questions.
9) The students make a summary on the short story with their own words. 10)The teacher makes conclusion and closes the lesson.
b. The Implementation in Teaching Speaking
teaching: the production of speakers competent to communicate in the target language” (55-56).
In teaching speaking, the teacher should create such an atmosphere in which the students feel free to express and share their ideas. Interesting material can be used to make students participate in the discussion. Short story is one interesting material if it is used and chosen appropriately. In implementing Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado to teach speaking, I suggest two kinds of activities: discussion and presentation. These activities are able to encourage the students to speak up and share their ideas and opinion both in the group and in front of public. The following is procedures that I suggest to conduct the activity:
1) The teacher selects the excerpts from Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado.
2) The teacher divides the excerpts a week before the meeting. Students read the excerpt at home.
3) The teacher conducts warming up activity by brainstorming the word “death”. 4) The teacher divides the class into three groups.
5) The teacher asks the students to discuss how death is presented/happened in the excerpt of the short story. Students can refer to some points, e.g. the cause of the death, the character’s view towards the death.
6) The students share their opinion, argument, and analysis within the group. 7) The teacher asks every group to present their result of the discussion in front
8) The students make a reflection on today’s lesson regarding their improvement, difficulty, experience, and feeling.
44
REFERENCES
Aiken, L. R. Dying and Death, Bereavement. New York: Allyn and Bacon, 1994. Baym, N. and Co. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W.
W. Norton & Company, 1989.
Bergen, P. Old Boston in Early Photographs. Boston: Bostonian Society, 1990. Danziger, M. K. and Johnson, W. S. The Critical Reader: Analyzing and Judging
Literature. New York: F. Ungar Pub.Co, 1978.
Grotjahn, M. The Voice of the Symbol. Los Angeles: Mara Books, 1971.
Guerin, W. L. and Willingham, J. R. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Hoffman, D. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. New York: Anchor Press, 1973. Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000.
Lado, R. Language Teaching: A Scientific Approach. New Delhi: Tata Mc.GrawHill, Inc, 1974.
Lazar, G. Literature and Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP, 1993.
McKay, S. Literature in the ESL Classroom. New York: Oxofrd University Press, 1986.
Nutall. C. Teaching Reading Skill in a Foreign Language. London: Heinemann Educational Book, 1982.
Paulstone, C. B. and Bruder, N. N. Teaching English as a Second Language: Techniques and Procedures. Cambridge: Winthrop Publishers, 1976.
Poe, E. A. Edgar Allan Poe: A Collection of Stories. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, Inc, 1988.
Porges, I. Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Washington Square Press, 1969.
Silverman, K. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991.
Wellek, R. and Warren, A. Theory of Literature. New York: Brace and World, Inc, 1956.
Widowson, H. O. Teaching Language as Communication. London: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Wilson, S. Literary Trail of Greater Boston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Electronic Sources:
“Edgar Allan Poe.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2008. 5 October 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe>
“Gothic Fiction.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2009. 15 October 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Fiction>
"Gothic Literature." 123HelpMe.com. 15 Oct 2009 <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=100613>
“Ghost.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2009. 18 November 2009. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost>
“Ligeia.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2008. 5 October 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligeia>
“Murder.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2009. 18 November 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder>
“Mystery (fiction).” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2009. 18 November 2009. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_%28fiction%29>
“Short Story.” Answers.com. 2009. 12 November 2009. <http://www.answers.com/topic/short-story>
“Short Story.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2008. 5 October 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_story>
Sucur, Slobodan. "The Cask of Amontillado". The Literary Encyclopedia. 17 Sept 2009.
“Supernatural.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 2009. 18 November 2009. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/supernatural>
“Supernatural.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2009. 18 November 2009. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural>
“The Cask of Amontillado.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2008. 5 October 2008.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cask_of_Amontillado>
“The Mask of the Red Death.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. 2008. 5 October 2008.
47
Appendix 1
LESSON PLAN OF KPE 141 INTENSIVE READING II
Subject : Intensive Reading II
Level of students : 2nd Semester of PBI Sanata Dharma Time allotment : 2 x 50 minutes
Credit : 2 credits
Competence Standard:
- Students are able to improve their reading skills especially speed and comprehension, apply reading strategies through various types of texts and develop their English vocabulary
Basic competency
- Students are able to improve their reading ability and comprehension focusing on the main idea and detail information of the excerpt of the short story
- Students are able to arrange the detail information and ideas of the excerpt into a logical short story
the short story
into groups consist of three students. Each student
1. Students read the excerpt on their own. (at home) 2. Students figure out the
READING MATERIAL
Brainstorming
What first comes in your mind if you hear the word
“death”?
---Exercises
After reading the excerpt you receive...
1. Please write down the main idea of the excerpt you receive.
______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________
IN YOUR GROUP, ARRANGE THE EXCERPTS INTO
2. Please answer the following questions within your group. a. Who are the characters in the story?
____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ b. What do they look like? (the appearance and behaviour)
____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ c. What are the settings (place, time, and atmosphere) that you can find in the
story?
____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ d. Why does Montressor ask Fortunato to go with him to the vault? What is
actually his intention to Fortunato?
____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ e. What happens to Fortunato in the vault? How the story ends?
____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
--- Summary
MAKE A SUMMARY ON THE SHORT STORY
The excerpts of The Cask of Amontillado
Part 1
THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. AT LENGTH I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled -- but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile NOW was at the thought of his immolation.
He had a weak point -- this Fortunato -- although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian MILLIONAIRES. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen , was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.
It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand.
"How?" said he, "Amontillado? A pipe? Impossible ? And in the middle of the carnival?"
"I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain."
"Amontillado!" "I have my doubts." "Amontillado!"
"And I must satisfy them." "Amontillado!"
"As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me" --
"Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry."
"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own." "Come let us go."
"Whither?" "To your vaults."
"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement Luchesi" --
"I have no engagement; come."
"My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted . The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre."
"Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon; and as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado."
Part 2
There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.
I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together on the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors.
The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode.
"The pipe," said he.
"It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white webwork which gleams from these cavern walls."
He turned towards me and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication .
"Nitre?" he asked, at length
"Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough!"
"Ugh! ugh! ugh! -- ugh! ugh! ugh! -- ugh! ugh! ugh! -- ugh! ugh! ugh! -- ugh! ugh! ugh!
My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. "It is nothing," he said, at last.
"Come," I said, with decision, we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi" --
