The Assignation by Edgar Allan Poe (1834): A Review

Title: The Assignation

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Publication Year: 1834, January

Pages: 15

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Romance

Source: eBook and audiobook @storytel.tr

Opening Sentence: ILL-FATED and mysterious man!

Okay! Once again, Poe is confusing me, and I need to figure out what’s happening! Apparently, I read a tragic romance, and you definitely need Venice for such an atmosphere! It is poetic, beautiful, dark—very, very dark—confusing, and mesmerizing! The title hints at the secret between the lovers.

The story begins with the beautiful Marchesa’s child falling into the Grand Canal (I still can’t understand how this happens). Meanwhile, her old husband, Mentoni, is playing his guitar amid the screams and chaos, and eventually seems to get bored with the mayhem. Then, a young hero jumps into the canal to save the child, and his heroism is successful. The Marchesa blushes as she receives her rescued child and says something to him that feels coded. Okay!

Next, our narrator, who witnesses all this, offers to take the hero home in his gondola. The next morning, he is invited to the young man’s extravagant and lavish home—classic Poe, with his descriptive style!

As the story unfolds, we receive various clues about the relationship between the Marchesa and this young man, which ultimately does not end well at all—much like Romeo and Juliet. Does Poe want to illustrate that there is only tragedy in secret love? That the lovers can only unite in death? What was Shakespeare's message in Romeo and Juliet? Is it the same message?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Short Story through Years (1830 - 1839)

  1830s 1830 The Blizzard by Alexander Pushkin  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1830 St. John's Eve by Nikolai Gogol  ⭐ ⭐ 1830 The Iron Shroud by William Mudford  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1830 The Evil Eye by Mary S helley  ⭐ ⭐ 1831 The Shot by Alexander Pushkin  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1831 May Night, or the Drowned Maiden by Nikolai Gogol 1831 The Lost Letter by Nikolai Gogol 1831 The Fair at Sorochyntsi by Nikolai Gogol 1831 Transformation by Mary Shelley  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1832 Roger Malvin's Burial by Nathaniel Hawthorne  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1832 My Kinsman, Major Molineux by Nathaniel Hawthorne  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1832 Metzengerstein: A Tale in Imitation of the German by Edgar Allan Poe  ⭐ ⭐ 1832 The Duc de L'Omelette by Edgar Allan Poe  ⭐ 1832 The Dream by Mary Shelley  ⭐ ⭐ 1832 Bon-Bon by Edgar Allan Poe  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1832  Loss of Breath by Edgar Allan Poe   ⭐ ⭐ 1833 Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens 1833 MS. Found in a Bottle by Edgar Allan Poe  ⭐ ⭐ 1833 The Invisible Girl by Ma...
Read more

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Duc de L'Omelette" (1832): A Review

Image
Let me tell you, without Wikipedia, I would have thought I had accidentally picked up a menu from a French bistro instead of an Edgar Allan Poe short story! Seriously, what was Poe thinking? A story that’s half in French? Am I supposed to be reading literature or planning my next trip to Paris? I tackled those French portions as if I were deciphering ancient hieroglyphs, and all I got was a headache and a feeling of insecurity. Congratulations, Poe! You’ve officially crushed my self-esteem and my hopes of being an elite reader. If this tale had been written in just one language, I might have laughed and enjoyed it. But no! Instead, I finished it feeling like I had just survived a mental obstacle course, only to cross the finish line and ask myself, “What on Earth did I just read?”
Read more

Short Story through Years (1840 - 1849)

1840 The Business Man by Edgar Allan Poe (February)  ⭐ ⭐ 1840 Z. Marcas by Honoré de Balzac (July) 1840 The Mummy's Foot by Théophile Gautier (September) 1840 The Man of the Crowd by Edgar Allan Poe (December)  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1841 The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe (April)  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1841 A Descent into the Maelström by Edgar Allan Poe (May) (DNFed) 1841 Never Bet the Devil Your Head : A Moral Tale by Edgar Allan Poe (September)  ⭐ ⭐ 1842 The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe (April)  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1842 The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe (May)  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1842 A Virtuoso's Collection by Nathaniel Hawthorne (May)  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1842 The Mystery of Marie Rogêt by Edgar Allan Poe  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1842 Eleonora by Edgar Allan Poe  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1842 The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1842 The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1843  Diddling , Considered as One of the Exact Sciences...
Read more