What Are The Similarities Between The Tell Tale Heart And The Masque Of Red Death
This paper aims to look at two short stories, one from the genre of gothic horror, while the other one is a psychological thriller, both written by Edgar Allan Poe in the years of 1942 and 1943, and analyze the stories from a literary as well as psychological point of view. Through the course of the paper it will become evident that Poe used literature to bring out major themes about the human condition.
These stories are titled “The Masque of Red Death” and the “Tell Tale Heart.”
The relevant materials used to draw up the psychological write up are the Freudian personality psychoanalysis tools and 5th edition of the DSM-V by the American Psychological Association.
Apart from exposing some typical symbols and literary techniques that Poe used …show more content…
In the midst of the party, however,a dark masked figure puts a hush to the festivities and much to the dismay of the Duke, this figure happens to be the “Red Death” itself. The story ends with the death of Prince Prospero by the Red Death who is said to hold “illimitable dominion over …show more content…
Although it is unclear what exactly the relationship between the two individuals is, it is clear that the persona has a vendetta for the vulture eye of the subject. The story appears to be a quest that the narrator goes on to clarify exactly why he is not insane, when in fact the image that comes across is exactly that of an insane person. The speaker spends hours on end watching the victim sleep at night, and on the eighth such night after the persona’s hand slips off the lamp he was holding, he makes the decision to kill the victim and hide his dismembered corpse under floorboards.
When the police come inspecting after hearing cries from the house, the persona starts hallucinating the sounds of the dead man’s beating heart. The noise eventually gets so loud and persistent that the narrator is driven insane and confesses the murder.
These stories are different in multiple respects but do share common psychological ground which will become relevant at the end of the paper.
ANALYSIS:
The earlier of the two stories was the Masque of Red Death, composed by Poe in early
These stories are titled “The Masque of Red Death” and the “Tell Tale Heart.”
The relevant materials used to draw up the psychological write up are the Freudian personality psychoanalysis tools and 5th edition of the DSM-V by the American Psychological Association.
Apart from exposing some typical symbols and literary techniques that Poe used …show more content…
In the midst of the party, however,a dark masked figure puts a hush to the festivities and much to the dismay of the Duke, this figure happens to be the “Red Death” itself. The story ends with the death of Prince Prospero by the Red Death who is said to hold “illimitable dominion over …show more content…
Although it is unclear what exactly the relationship between the two individuals is, it is clear that the persona has a vendetta for the vulture eye of the subject. The story appears to be a quest that the narrator goes on to clarify exactly why he is not insane, when in fact the image that comes across is exactly that of an insane person. The speaker spends hours on end watching the victim sleep at night, and on the eighth such night after the persona’s hand slips off the lamp he was holding, he makes the decision to kill the victim and hide his dismembered corpse under floorboards.
When the police come inspecting after hearing cries from the house, the persona starts hallucinating the sounds of the dead man’s beating heart. The noise eventually gets so loud and persistent that the narrator is driven insane and confesses the murder.
These stories are different in multiple respects but do share common psychological ground which will become relevant at the end of the paper.
ANALYSIS:
The earlier of the two stories was the Masque of Red Death, composed by Poe in early