The Supernatural, Poe And Irving Essay, Research Paper

Role of the Supernatural

In life there is the natural and the supernatural. Often the supernatural in life is easy forgotten or derided. Life becomes excessively busy and one forgets that there exists good and evil. One should non reject the goad in the Bible to retrieve that & # 8220 ; we are non contending against people made of flesh and blood, but against individuals without organic structures & # 8211 ; the evil swayers of the unobserved universe, those mighty demonic existences and great evil princes of darkness who rule this universe ; and against immense members of wicked liquors in the spirit universe & # 8221 ; ( Bible 1194 ) . Neither should one transport their captivation of the supernatural to an compulsion. The supernatural good and evil in life dramas and function in finding the class 1s life will take. This paper will compare and contrast the captivation with the occult in Irving and Poe & # 8217 ; s Hagiographas and will state the consequence each writer tries to accomplish.

In Irving & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; The Devil and Tom Walker & # 8221 ; , he gives the devil human qualities and describes him as & # 8220 ; a great black adult male seated straight opposite him, on the stump of a tree. He was extremely surprised, holding neither heard nor seen anyone attack ; and he was still more perplexed on detecting, every bit good as the assemblage somberness would allow, that the alien was neither Negro nor Indian. It is true he was dressed in a ill-mannered half-Indian attire, and had a ruddy belt or sash swathed round his organic structure ; but his face was neither black nor copper colour, but dark-skinned and begrimed, and begrimed with carbon black, as if he had been accustomed to labor among fires and forges. He had a daze of harsh black hair that stood out from his caput in all waies, and bore an ax on his shoulder. He scowled for a minute at Tom with a brace of great ruddy eyes & # 8221 ; ( Irving 106, 107 ) . He besides makes it sound as if it is normal for people to be familiar with the names of the Satan. & # 8220 ; Oh, I go by assorted names. I am the wild hunter in some states ; the black mineworker in others. In this vicinity I am known by the name of the black woodman. I am he to whom the ruddy work forces consecrated this topographic point, and in award of whom they now and so roasted a white adult male, by manner of odoriferous forfeit. Since the ruddy work forces have been exterminated by you white barbarians, I amuse myself by presiding at the persecutions of Religious society of friendss and Anabaptists ; I am the great frequenter and booster of slave traders, and the grandmaster of the Salem witches & # 8221 ; ( Irving 107 ) . Irving besides shows his captivation with the supernatural by doing it appear apart of the existent universe. The Devil appears to be good and a adult male worthy of doing a concern trade. The Devil makes a trade with Tom Walker but in the terminal the Devil came for Tom Walker to take his life. & # 8220 ; Tom shrank back, but excessively tardily. He had left his small Bible at the underside of his coat pocket, and his large Book on the desk buried under the mortgage he was approximately to prevent ; ne’er was sinner taken more unawares. The black adult male whisked him like a kid into the saddle, gave the Equus caballus the cilium, and off he galloped, with Tom on his dorsum, in the thick of the electrical storm & # 8221 ; ( Irving 112 ) . In the terminal the supernatural won and & # 8220 ; Tom Walker ne’er returned to prevent the mortgage & # 8221 ; ( Irving 112 ) . Irving besides shows that one time you have had an brush with the supernatural you will be changed. After Tom had been with the Devil & # 8220 ; he found the black print of a finger burned, as it were, into his brow, which nil could kill & # 8221 ; ( Irving 108 ) . In comparing, Poe describes evil as an & # 8220 ; ebony bird juggling my sad illusion into smiling, by Thursday

vitamin E grave and austere decorousness of the visage it wore, ‘Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, 1000, ’ I said, ‘art sure no poltroon, ghastly inexorable and ancient Raven rolling from the Nighty shore- Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore! ’ Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore’” ( Poe 128 ) . Poe besides shows that one time the supernatural enters 1s life it will remain with them shadowing their life. “And the Raven, ne’er flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting on the pale flop of Pallas merely above my chamber door ; and his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is woolgathering, and the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor ; and my psyche from out the shadow that lies drifting on the floor shall be lifted – nevermore” ( Poe 130 ) . Both Irving and Poe personify the supernatural and give it human features. They besides reveal that an brush with the occult will go forth an ageless consequence.

Although both writers have a captivation with the supernatural they perceive it in different ways. Irving sees evil as & # 8220 ; a great black adult male & # 8221 ; ( Irving 106 ) . He besides sees it as something that can do a concern trade and can & # 8220 ; haggling about the footings on which the former was to hold the plagiarist & # 8217 ; s hoarded wealth. There was one status understood in all instances where the Devil grants favours ; but there were others about which, though of less importance, he was inflexibly stubborn & # 8221 ; ( Irving 110 ) . In contrast Poe sees the occult as a & # 8220 ; stately Raven & # 8221 ; ( Poe 128 ) . He besides sees it as something that can non be controlled or made to make what one wants it to make. & # 8220 ; From the boom, and the storm- and the cloud that took the signifier ( When the remainder of Heaven was bluish ) of a devil in my

view- & # 8221 ; ( Poe 133 ) .

In Irving & # 8217 ; s writings the consequence he tries to accomplish is to do the supernatural semen alive in the existent universe. He does this by doing the devil converse with the characters with abusive words. The characters are besides able to see the Satans but when the & # 8220 ; clerks turned to look for the black adult male, he had disappeared & # 8221 ; ( Irving 112 ) . Poe, in contrast, tries to do the supernatural appear dark, acerb, and oppressive. He describes it as his & # 8220 ; psyche from out that shadow that lies drifting on the floor shall be lifted & # 8211 ; nevermore & # 8221 ; ( Poe 130 ) . He besides describes it as an & # 8220 ; ebony bird & # 8221 ; ( Poe 128 ) or as & # 8220 ; a devil in my view- & # 8221 ; ( Poe 133 ) .

In decision, Irving and Poe & # 8217 ; s captivation with the supernatural is really apparent and plays a critical function in their Hagiographas. Irving & # 8217 ; s captivation makes the supernatural appear good in some ways and deplorable in others. Whereas, Poe & # 8217 ; s captivation is on the dark and oppressive side of the supernatural. Irving and Poe both convey their captivation of the supernatural but in different ways. Through their Hagiographas we see that the occult does play an of import function in human lives. Whether one wants to acknowledge that or deny it. Irving and Poe & # 8217 ; s thoughts of the supernatural vary in their Hagiographas, but it is apparent that both agree that the supernatural plays a function in the human life.

Plants Cited

Bible. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers. 1194.

Irving, Washington. & # 8220 ; The Devil and Tom Walker. & # 8221 ; American Literature. Mission Hills,

Calcium: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1991. 106, 107, 108, 110, and 112.

Poe, Edgar Allan. Entirely. American Literature. Mission Hills, CA:

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1991. 133.

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Raven. American Literature. Mission Hills, CA:

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1991. 128 and 130.