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How Does Poe Use Direct Characterization In The Tell Tale Heart

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Culminating Activity #2 The author of the “Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allan Poe is able to reveal the character of the narrator through mostly direct characterization. In the excerpt from “The Tell-Tale Heart” , Edgar Allan Poe creates the disturbed character of an unnamed narrator through indirect characterization. Using the components of actions, internal thoughts, and dialogue, Poe unravels a story about a guilty conscience and reveals how the truth is always yearning to be heard to even the most deceptive. At the beginning of the excerpt the narrator is able to to walk around light- heartedly, “I went down with a light heart- for what had I now to fear?” The narrator feels arrogant and cocky at the beginning. “My manner had convinced them”. The narrator is able to admit to the audience that his gestures and movements are what convinced the police that he was innocent. In the quote, “I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country…”, shows that the narrator was able to slyly act as if he did nothing wrong. …show more content…

The audience is also left to wonder about the narrator’s motivations, since the narrator never reveals his motive for killing the old man. The audience can infer that the narrator is very instinctive. The audience is given the opportunity to hear the narrator’s internal thoughts throughout the whole excerpt. At first, the narrator feels no burden at all, but eventually his guilt starts racking up. The narrator insists that he hears a loud sound, so the audience can infer that the narrator needs to b forced to hear the truth. At first, the narrator explains that he is smiling quite a lot because he feels he has proven his innocence. Then, the narrator begins to pale as he starts hearing the

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