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A Haunted House And The Tell Tale Heart Comparison Essay

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Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and Virginia Woolf’s A Haunted House creates two very different worlds for the audience. The biggest difference between theses novels is the tone in which the author describes their story. Although different in style, both authors seem to be heavily influenced by the concepts that are associated with dreams. What is also evident, are the overlapping correlations that appears in both stories. Therefore, it is clear to see that these stories are both alike and dissimilar in their ability to manipulate the concept of a dream. The most obvious contrast between authors are the tone in which they conduct their stories. In The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe creates a horrific scene in which the narrator is a madman that …show more content…

Both fictions have received similar interpretations regarding whether they are based in the character’s reality or dream-state. How fitting that both authors constantly reference dreams while continuously placing recurring scenes at each characters’ bedside. A Haunted House mentions “Waking in a garden”, “Here we slept”, and “Quietly or we shall wake them?” as phrases that are used both arbitrarily and as a constant analogy to a dream-state. These random, but continuous indications make Woolf’s intent obvious. While in The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe reveals the same infatuation for dreams by having the narrator watch over his victim while he dreamt. Consequently, both texts can manipulate the idea of a dream to convey a deeper message. Although each author personal manipulation of the dream-state is what creates strong bonds between their narrative, both authors confide a different message. For Edgar Allen Poe, the message was to illustrate that the nightmare is to have death stalking and waiting. As for Woolf, he uses the character’s dream to connect the message that one’s soul will continue to pursue love, even in the

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