Essay - Edgar Allan Poe and Hannibal Edgar Allan Poe Was More...

Edgar Allan Poe and Hannibal

Edgar ***** Poe was more than a horror storywriter. He was a person that delved into the human psyche ***** created a psychological thriller that haunted ***** reader's mind well after the conclusion ***** made.

Poe has ***** into the human spirit at a time when the idea of the unconscious ***** had probably either not evolved, or had just been described and was not commonly known. In his stories of horror, Poe explored in depth the human psyche. Poe was a critic ***** r*****ionalism but at ***** same ***** he was a master ***** t***** art of constructing, logically, the irr*****ional 'rationale' for crime committed by his characters. Poe lived a difficult and rather impoverished life, and was himself often given to alcoholism in his private ***** and the narra*****r's fears and contradictions that the author describes are someth*****g he might have experienced himself. For as James Russell Lowell said, "Mr. Poe's early productions show that he could see through the verse to the spirit beneath, ***** ***** he already ***** a feeling th*****t all ***** life and grace of the one must depend on and be modulated ***** the will ***** ***** other."

Hannibal Lecter is also a gourmet, an oenophile, a man of genius and impeccable taste. But he eats human flesh. Sometimes he ***** people w*****n they are still alive, without their permission. To his credit, ***** uses the best silver, ***** finest crystal andthe most elegant china as he dines on human sweetbreads. His classic line from "The Silence of the Lambs": A census taker tried to quantify me once. I ate ***** liver with some fava beans and a big Am*****rone.

Hannibal Lecter is a ch*****racter ***** by Thomas Harris. Harris merely wrote ***** ***** existence. Lecter took it from there, escaping from his fictional dungeon. He became a cultural icon so vivid and powerful that ***** doesn't really matter whether *****'re real or invented. Thus, he became a riv*****l to Poe and yet, remained a sort ***** arc*****type to the *****ity of Poe.

***** is shown to be born in Eastern Europe, his father a count: his pulse never rises, savage animals n***** attack nor fear him. Lecter is *****, ***** any strict sense, a man, ***** Harris is artist enough to allow this. Hannibal Lecter is, instead, an element: the element of evil. (Author not available, 1999)

In popular tradition Poe is thought of as a great drunkard, but the truth is more complic*****d than such a statement would suggest. ***** ***** brought up in a society that revolved around social drinking, but liquor had a terrible effect on him. He despised debauchery in any form, and yet he did drink. He drank occ*****ionally ********** it was t***** habit of the time ***** because it ***** a form of charity he ***** accept without feeling beholden. And, of course, as his position in life became ***** and more miserable, ***** ***** as an escape from reality. When