Lit Elements
“Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe
Throughout the short short "Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, we get inside the mind of a mad man who is plotting to kill someone he claims to love. Some may question the possibility of this, but the man narrating the “Tell Tale Heart” surely believed that he loved the man but not his “evil vulture eye”. He himself couldn’t even predict the madness that was about to fall upon him by his own hand simply because of the look of an odd eye. Afterall, he did indeed love a man that he was responsible for his brutal demise. Such sardonic contradictions reflect the elements of irony. “Tell Tale Heart” also boasts some rich symbolism with the old man eye, as well as some strong themes, all of which enrich the story being told and adds to the sheer ridiculousness that is the narrator.
In the ‘Tell Tale Heart” Edgar Allen Poe throws some deep themes towards the audience. One of the most hard hitting themes he denominates is “A persons view of reality can be different than someone else's”. The narrators reality was dramatically different than that of an emotionally stable human being. The man narrating the story gets extremely upset over the appearance of an eye that belongs to an innocent elderly man “For it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.” (Poe 3), this show that the man is seriously irrational because that shouldn’t “vex” people. The theme reality is different for everyone comes full circle when the man start to plot the death of the old man “It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.” (Poe 2). No one who was emotional sound would kill someone simply because there eye bothered them. Truly reality is a frame of mind that can be altered by a number of reasons and impairments based on each individual's life experience.
Tell Tale Heart is rich with irony, the narrator demonstrates irony many times throughout the story because of how truly insane
Throughout the short short "Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, we get inside the mind of a mad man who is plotting to kill someone he claims to love. Some may question the possibility of this, but the man narrating the “Tell Tale Heart” surely believed that he loved the man but not his “evil vulture eye”. He himself couldn’t even predict the madness that was about to fall upon him by his own hand simply because of the look of an odd eye. Afterall, he did indeed love a man that he was responsible for his brutal demise. Such sardonic contradictions reflect the elements of irony. “Tell Tale Heart” also boasts some rich symbolism with the old man eye, as well as some strong themes, all of which enrich the story being told and adds to the sheer ridiculousness that is the narrator.
In the ‘Tell Tale Heart” Edgar Allen Poe throws some deep themes towards the audience. One of the most hard hitting themes he denominates is “A persons view of reality can be different than someone else's”. The narrators reality was dramatically different than that of an emotionally stable human being. The man narrating the story gets extremely upset over the appearance of an eye that belongs to an innocent elderly man “For it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.” (Poe 3), this show that the man is seriously irrational because that shouldn’t “vex” people. The theme reality is different for everyone comes full circle when the man start to plot the death of the old man “It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.” (Poe 2). No one who was emotional sound would kill someone simply because there eye bothered them. Truly reality is a frame of mind that can be altered by a number of reasons and impairments based on each individual's life experience.
Tell Tale Heart is rich with irony, the narrator demonstrates irony many times throughout the story because of how truly insane