Critical Analysis of The Shadow by Edgar Allan Poe
Critical Analysis of "The Shadow" by Edgar Allan Poe
In layman's terms, The Shadow- A Parable, by Edgar Allan Poe to the untrained eye could be seen as a sadistic, unordered, confusing pile of thoughts that should be banned from the folder of Classic American literature. But to the trained eye, the Shadow is a work of art, a beautifully told story, with details so commonplace today, but yet were so revolutionary in Poe’s time. Classic of all of Poe’s literature the Shadow has many shared Poe motifs, directly meets Poe’s classic standards for storytelling, both of which are characteristics radical for literature of Poe’s time.
The story starts out with an introduction to the reader, who as the narrator states could be reading at a time long since the narrator’s death, perhaps even centuries since. Also stating that “…yet a few who will find much to ponder upon the characters here…”, this meaning a few who read will find much more than the obvious to ponder about from the depths of the story.
Next the story moves on to start the telling, and the narrator explains details of the setting such that “the year had been a year of terror”, this the a year during the time of the plague. That to him, the narrator, now identified as the Greek Oinos, among others, the “alternation of the seven hundred and ninety-fourth year” the spirit of the skies, “made itself manifest not only in the physical orb of the earth, but also in the souls….of mankind.”, the narrator stating here that a higher power having to do with the coming of the rotation of seven hundred and ninety-four years, has not only affected the physical earth, but also the souls of men.
The Narrator then explains over some wine, seven men, shut out from the outside world were gathered around a man named Zoilus, dead a product of the plague, and described as “the genius and the demon of this scene”. The air, atmosphere, and objects of the room are described as heavy, laden with a sense of suffocation and anxiety, among other dark depressive feelings. The seven men are in the process of getting drunk of wine “that reminded us(the men) of blood” , and the narrator, among the others, cannot give attention to the dead man Zoilus, instead looking...