Edgar Allan Poe,
Nathaniel Hawthorne
and Herman Melville
Comparison
Connecting themes within the “realm of darkness”
Similarities and
Differences
•
•
•
•
“The Fall of the House of Usher”
“The Raven”
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
Moby Dick
Activity Instructions:
• I will break you into groups of 3
• One person will be the “recorder” (the one who writes down
the answers). Another will be the “researcher” (that person
is responsible for finding the pages where the answers are
located). Finally, the third student will be the “presenter”
(the one who presents the answers to the class).
• **Remember that this is a class participation gradeeveryone must participate and work carefully on the
project.
• As a group- pick two points that you will share to the class.
• **this is a great review for next week’s test on the
American Renaissance unit.
Instructions Continued…
•
•
•
•
•
•
You will be comparing Captain Ahab’s behavior (in Moby Dick) with
that of the three other protagonists (main characters) in the
works previously mentioned.
Therefore, you are comparing Captain Ahab’s behavior to that of:
1. Roderick Usher, from “The Fall of the House of Usher”
2. The narrator, from “The Raven”
&
3. Mr. Hooper, from “The Minister’s Black Veil”
• **At this point, we have watched scenes from Moby Dick,
(the film). The film’s depiction of Ahab’s character should help you
with this project.
Next step
• After going back through the
textbook and brainstorming the
similarities and differences between
the characters, you will be creating
two charts that we will display in the
classroom (so, make it nice and
legible).
The Charts
• The Charts can look something like
the examples on the following slides.
• I will give you markers and paper, so
get creative 
Double sided charts
• Use the following structure for note
taking (this part will be collected as
well).
Ahab vs. Roderick
Usher – similarities and
differences
•
•
•
•
Similarities
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
•
•
•
•
Differences
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Instructions Continued…
• Please make a similar chart / graph
for each set of character
comparisons.
Once you are done with
part one…
• After you have 3 comparison charts done, you will
come up with the final charts that will be handed
in and presented to the class.
• The final product will answer two main questions:
• 1 “Why do all four characters fit into the unit
theme-The Realm of Darkness”?
• 2. “Which character has the least in common with
the others and why”?
• The final product will look a bit like the following
slides:
Realm of Darkness---define
in your own terms what the “Realm
of Darkness” stands for
• Usher
• -Why does this
character fit into the
theme of this unit?
• Ahab
• Narrator in “The
Raven”
• Mr. Hooper
Similarities and differences:
“which character has the least in
common with the others and why”?
• Usher
• 3 specific examples of
his character
(Ex: Eerie, creepy,
obsessive…)
• The narrator in “The
Raven”
• Ahab
• Mr. Hooper
Finished!
• Hand in your notes and double sided
charts.
• The main charts: hold on to these
while you present them. We will then
hang them up.