Compare/Contrast Essay Tale Tell Heart and Goose Girl
Jack Mitchell
Mr. Glen Smith
English1302
Oct 10,2012 Compare/Contrast Essay
Assignment #2
The unnamed narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell- Tale Heart” and the chambermaid in the Grimm Brothers “The Goose Girl” both possess strikingly similar characteristics. Both show aggression and use violence to get what they want but are very careful of how they go about it and covering it up. In Poe’s story, the unnamed narrator kills an elderly man that he is caring for because the old man has a foul looking eye that is covered with a white film. This is what is slowly driving him insane but afterwards he ingeniously decides to hide the body incase someone heard the noise of the olds man body. This is so he does not get arrested for his murder and when the police do stop they believe his story and do not suspect anything, until he gives them a reason. The chambermaid on the other hand forcefully and violently makes the princess, who she knows wont stand up for her self, switch places with her simply because she wants to live the life of the princess. She also makes the princess swear to secrecy so she never has to worry about her true identity being unveiled. Later, she cleverly kills the princess’s talking horse, which was the only witness to what happened between the chambermaid and the real princess’s. In Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” the unnamed narrator is caring for an elderly man who isn’t capable of taking care of himself. The elderly man has a bad eye that has a silky film over the top of it. The narrator becomes sickened and essentially afraid of the eye. He decides that the only way he can get rid of these feelings is to kill the old man thus getting rid of the eye forever Originally, he is hesitant to actually go through with his plan, but he knows it is the only way to end his torture. “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (303). He waits until the time is right when the eye is open to kill him “I
Mr. Glen Smith
English1302
Oct 10,2012 Compare/Contrast Essay
Assignment #2
The unnamed narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell- Tale Heart” and the chambermaid in the Grimm Brothers “The Goose Girl” both possess strikingly similar characteristics. Both show aggression and use violence to get what they want but are very careful of how they go about it and covering it up. In Poe’s story, the unnamed narrator kills an elderly man that he is caring for because the old man has a foul looking eye that is covered with a white film. This is what is slowly driving him insane but afterwards he ingeniously decides to hide the body incase someone heard the noise of the olds man body. This is so he does not get arrested for his murder and when the police do stop they believe his story and do not suspect anything, until he gives them a reason. The chambermaid on the other hand forcefully and violently makes the princess, who she knows wont stand up for her self, switch places with her simply because she wants to live the life of the princess. She also makes the princess swear to secrecy so she never has to worry about her true identity being unveiled. Later, she cleverly kills the princess’s talking horse, which was the only witness to what happened between the chambermaid and the real princess’s. In Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” the unnamed narrator is caring for an elderly man who isn’t capable of taking care of himself. The elderly man has a bad eye that has a silky film over the top of it. The narrator becomes sickened and essentially afraid of the eye. He decides that the only way he can get rid of these feelings is to kill the old man thus getting rid of the eye forever Originally, he is hesitant to actually go through with his plan, but he knows it is the only way to end his torture. “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (303). He waits until the time is right when the eye is open to kill him “I
Cited: Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. “The Goose-Girl.” Kinder-und Hausmarchen. 7th ed. D.L. Ashilman, trans. Berlin: n.p., 1857. Print Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” The complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Random House, 1975. Print.