Hop-Frog Critical Analysis

“Mass murderers are simply people who have had enough.” Quentin Crisp brilliantly explains a less told version of a miserable and dreary event. In most articles or reports about a shooting, the killer is often described as cruel, heartless, and cold-blooded. But could there be another side to the story? Could the killer be the one who had been hurt, damaged, and wounded instead of the so-called victims? Edgar Allen Poe truly gives light to this possibility in his writing. In his story “Hop-Frog,” a man named Hop-Frog (a dwarf, cripple, and jester) is forced to be a servant to a king and do whatever he can to “entertain” the king and his seven ministers. Eventually, he is fed up and comes up with a plan to trick the king and his ministers with a joke. The king and his ministers believe that it is a harmless skit, but in reality, Hop-Frog ends up killing them all and later escaping. In the story “Hop-Frog,” Hop-Frog is justified in his decision to kill the king and his seven ministers because they had abused him for years, his chance at a normal life had been taken away from him, and by doing this he helped everyone else who had been or could have been hurt by the king.

To begin with, the king, along with his ministers, always abuse Hop-Frog. One main form of this is through mental abuse. He is mainly made fun of because of his disability: “Hop-Frog could only get along by a sort

Throughout Hop-Frog’s time spent serving the king, the king and the seven ministers physically and mentally abused him; he lost his life in order to be forced to serve the king. Lastly, Hop-Frog helped others who the king would have hurt if he had survived. The king did nothing but hurt Hop-Frog with his harsh demands and his horrendous jokes. It is only fitting that Hop-Frog’s revenge is disguised as a joke. “I am simply Hop-Frog … and this is my last jest” (Poe