Human Nature in The Raven by Edger Allen Poe Essay Example

All humans have something in common.  This may sound ridiculous and some may think that this is incorrect, however, this something is called human nature.  With human nature, no matter what task is at hand, humans tend to do anything to satisfy the desire they feel. Oftentimes, human nature can lead people down very dark paths; including the chance of death from within.  Human nature consists but is not limited to the following characteristics greed, ignorance, and vanity.  As humans, no matter what is going on in life, human beings feel the need to satisfy these characteristics.  This can lead to a multitude of troubles later in life.  One example of this is when people choose money over their own family.  With Gothic Literature, many different stories and aspects are put within the story, however, every piece of literature is the same through the fault of human nature.  

Within the story, “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe, there is a character that is dealing with the new loss of his wife.  The character is also dealing with a pesky raven, who will not leave him alone.  The man becomes so angry at the raven, filling him with the insanity of thinking this raven could be his dead wife.  The man is progressively becoming insane with anger and the want to kill the bird, and he lets human nature get the best of him.  In the poem, “The Raven,” the text states, “Wretch,' I cried, 'thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee, respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore; Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!” (Edgar Allan Poe 214).  The man was willing to do anything to get his wife back.  However, he became so angry with the bird, even willing to kill the bird because he was not getting what he had wanted.  This led him to the break of insanity.  In the short story, “The Raven,” the text states,  “And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting. On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted—nevermore!” (Edgar Allan Poe 215).  The man drove himself to insanity since the raven would not leave him alone.  The raven is a meaningful symbol of how powerful and controlling human nature can be.  With the man becoming so angry from the raven not having the capability to bring his wife back from the dead.  The man becomes so vengeful, wanting to kill his raven.  The man lets human nature get the best of him and eventually died due to this insanity.

The story “The Fall of the House of Usher” written by Edgar Allen Poe, focuses around the narrator who had gone to see his dear childhood friend.  The narrator goes to meet his friend, Roderick Usher, who has fallen mentally ill, in his home named The House of Usher.  Roderick’s slowly deteriorating mind leads him to insanity.  Due to Roderick’s state of mind, he feared that Madeline’s disease would spread to him.  Through the mistake of burying his twin sister Madeline alive, Roderick has to face his consequences.  Roderick becomes frightful of the looming consequences of the mistake that he so wrongfully committed.  “For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold—then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated” (Edgar Allan Poe 235).  Roderick was petrified to catch the disease that Madeline had.  He became overbearingly selfish in his well-being.  Roderick even goes as far as to bury his sister alive for self-preservation.  With having to face the consequences of his own selfish mistake, he died of fear.  Roderick lets his selfishness get the best of him.  Due to Roderick’s selfishness, he had to pay the consequences of what he had done to his sister, leading him to his own death.

The short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” written by Washington Irving, focuses on a man named Tom Walker.  Tom and his wife were not the best of couples.  They argued and fought with each other constantly. The family did not have a lot of money; they were willing to do anything to get some spare change.  One night, Tom had been walking through a swampy area that had once been a Native American camp during the Franch and Indian War.  Tom had run into a strange man who had offered him a way to get the buried treasure Pirate Kidd.  Though, come to find out the strange man was the Devil; Tom making deals with the Devil.  In the short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” the text states, “There was one condition which need not be mentioned, being generally understood in all cases where the devil grants favor; but there were others about which, though of less importance, he was inflexibly obstinate,” (Washington Irving 205).  Tom Walker was willing to do anything to get what he wanted.  All Tom had wanted was to be rich and have an immense amount of money.  He did not care when his wife had gone out looking for the treasurer and never came back.  Tom never even cared when he found his wife's organs wrapped up in a tree, all he wanted was his property back as well as the treasure.  It was as if Tom was a self-absorbed psychopath.  He had received the money and treasure, however, Tom in return had to sell his soul to the devil.  “The Devil and Tom Walker” was not a story about making deals with the devil.  The story was instead the dangers and consequences of human nature ruining and even ending characters' lives.  Tom Walker was full of greediness and was willing to do anything to get what he wanted.  The story was about how much power and control greed can have over someone.

With Gothic Literature, many different stories and aspects are put within the story, however, every piece of literature is the same through the fault of human nature.  All three of these stories are the same but yet different.  Each one of these stories shows how human nature can get the best out of anyone.  Though human nature is something that can’t be controlled, maybe the death of us all will be so simple as to the consequence of human presence on Earth.