Hop-Frog

My Thoughts

I really liked this story. This is one of Poe's tales of revenge, along with other stories like The Cask of Amontillado. The main character is a dwarf named Hop-Frog who provides entertainment to the King as the official court "fool". He is affectionate towards another servant that also happens to be a dwarf named Trippetta. One day the king deeply disrespects Trippetta infuriating poor Hop-Frog so much that he devises a masterful plan to murder the King and his seven councils.

He gets the king and his council to dress up as orangutans to scare the guest of his party. He covers them in tar and flax to give the feral appearance of the creature and during the party they are unleashed. The crowd is scared at first, but then everyone gets a good laugh. Hop-Frog plays a part wrangling the creatures tightly in the center of the room where he manages to chain them up. They are then suspended in the air as little Hop-Frog rides the chain up towards the ceiling. He lights the king and the king's council on fire and they are slowly burned alive.

The lesson seems to be to avoid insulting Hop-Frogs love. If not you may run the risk of dying a slow and extremely painful death.

My Rating

I rate this story a 4.2 out of 5. It was short but very interesting and among my favorites by Poe.