COURSE 11


Critical analysis of the main characters of the tale “Gold Bug” written by Edgar Allan Poe

MIND MAP AND BRAINSTORMING

ESSAY

William Legrand is a misanthrope man who is excited for the entomology, whose root came from a protestant ancient family with a big fortune who became poor, when their treasures were lost after a series of misfortunes. He was blessed with an exceptional intelligence, whose talent was useful to discover the hidden message, which led them to the treasure, how he said in the book “I have considered all these details, I never doubted for a moment that heat was the agent which had done to emerge on the surface of the scroll, the skull which was drawn in this scroll”. William is a flat character in the story, because of he did not suffer any mishap, but the reader could consider him as a character more dynamic, who seemed to be mad, this is the first impression in the beginning of this story, however, when the tale unfolds the reader realizes that he is completely sane.

Jupiter is the black servant who cause grace for his form how he talks and his childish attitude, whose humorous situations broke the tension of the story at the right moment, phrases like “-¡Hum...! ¡fancy that...! ¡That is too funny! ¡He doesn´t have the left eye!”. He had been enfranchised for the Legrand family, he had won his freedom, but he refused to leave his duties and he continued to serve his young master William. He is the flattest character, because of he didn´t have evolution over the story.

The narrator, whose name and his physical features, we have no idea. This is undoubtedly the most important character, who told us in first person what happened and, when he integrated into the story as a character, his presence authenticated the truth of the facts. He was objective with his descriptions, which were very careful, for example he showed us exactly how the island was in the first paragraphs or the precision with which stopped at the climax of the adventure, to refer to weight, size and condition of the chest which contained the treasure. Also contributed his character and the attitude which he took towards the events. To ensure the fidelity of his testimony, Edgar Allan Poe shows us this character as a balanced man, wise, hardly ready to be driven by fantasies and daydreams; therefore, He participated against his wish in this expedition, because he distrust at all times of protagonist´s sanity, and only at the end, when had sufficient evidence, he decided to believe in the tale. For those reasons could consider this character as the most dynamic, who had a drastic change during the dénouement, He started thinking his friend, William Legrand, was completely crazy, but then how he demonstrated later that all he said was true, the mind of the narrator changed, he realized he was wrong with supposed madness of his friend, for example, He said once “How strange was it! I became convinced he had gone mad”.