How Does Poe Use Situational Irony In The Tell Tale Heart

“And every morning I went to his room and with a warm, friendly voice i asked him how he had slept.” Seems like the beginning of a very pleasant story, right? Nope, this quote is from The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, and this story isn’t pleasant at all. Throughout this story Poe uses many different literary devices to intensify the story. He uses things like suspense, allusion, and setting to do this.

There are three types of irony situational, dramatic, and verbal. The definition of situational irony is when the expected result does not happen. An example of situational irony is in The Tell-Tale Heart is when the caregiver confessed to murdering the old man, despite all of the work he put forth to hide the body. Another example of situational irony is the person who killed the old man is his caregiver, who was there to make he sure he stays well and safe.

Edgar Allen Poe uses dramatic irony in the “Tell Tale Heart” in the line “I moved it slowly一very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep”(Poe 1). This line is saying the narrator is moving into the old man’s room and looking at him but, the old man doesn’t know that the narrator is looking at him. This creates suspense by the reader knowing that the narrator is sneaking into the bedroom and looking at the old man but, the old man does not know. Dramatic Irony creates suspense by the readering knowing more about the situation than one of the characters does. So, in this case we known the narrator is planning to kill the old man but he does not know. This is how the “Tell Tale Heart” uses dramatic irony.

In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," the author combines vivid symbolism with subtle irony. Although the story runs only four pages, within those few pages many examples of symbolism and irony abound. In short, the symbolism and irony lead to an enormously improved story as compared to a story with the same plot but with these two elements missing.

Edgar Allan Poe. A sinister and mysterious writer yet caring and giving husband, Mr. Poe lived his short forty years of life in a seemingly state of disarray and torment. We all know his famous works for their perverse styles and gruesome detail but what caused his limitless collection of murder, insanity, and longing for a lost love that is found within his pages?

There are themes in every piece of fictional literature ever written. A theme is the central idea of a story that is fictional. A theme can be everything from good verse evil to as simple as light and darkness. In any story there may be more than one theme in it. Some stories have numerous central ideas that can be seen in the one. Most people only focus on one while there may be five that are important to understand to understand the story. The Tell-Tale Heart like some has numerous themes that are all important to understanding the story.

Poe uses irony in “The Raven.” A raven flies into the narrator’s room and can talk just like a person; the narrator would ask it a question, but its response would always be “‘Nevermore’”(48). The irony in the example is that ravens cannot actually speak; consequently, either the narrator is having a hallucination or he is asleep, dreaming. The raven coming to him and speaking displays the longing that the narrator has for his lost love. Also, in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator tries to prove that he is sane and has full control of his mind. The narrator opens the door to an old man’s room and merely stands and watches him. But, from the old man’s doorway, the narrator believes he is hearing “the beating of the old man’s heart” (2). The fact that the narrator can hear the old man’s heart is ironic because one is physically incapable of hearing another’s heartbeat without putting their ear to their chest or using a stethoscope. Poe’s utilization of irony lets the reader know that the narrator is unstable and out of his mind; the reader can’t trust the narrator anymore. Another example of irony in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is when the narrator says he hears “all things in heaven and all things in earth.” He also claims to be able to hear “many things in hell” (1). The statement is

In the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe creates the guilty character of an unnamed narrator through indirect characterization. Using the components of actions, dialogue, and motivations, Poe depicts a story about immorality and reveals confidence can cause a person to lose their awareness of a situation.

Edgar Allen Poe's use of irony helps portray his horror style by joking about the death of his characters and showing their madness by having them say the opposite of what they mean. One example of this is in The Tell Tale Heart when in the beginning the main character says “Harken! And observe how healthily- how calmly I can tell this story.”(1) Showing that he is insane but doesn’t want anyone to know about it, a perfect example of just how insane he really is. This ties into Poe’s style because the insanity of

The short story “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is regarded as a horror story. Although horror stories are most commonly classified with monsters, this story is not associated with actual monsters, like Frankenstein or Cerberus. A horror story might incorporate characters with monstrous characteristics, such as when the old man is murdered by the narrator in the “Tell Tale Heart.” The short story “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe incorporates certain elements that help create the horror genre, including as crimes, slow- down, and nervousness or anxiety.

own chamber. In Edgar Allan Poe’s Tell Tale Heart, the story of this murder is told from the point of view of the killer. The narrator tells of the man’s vulture-like eye, which causes him to murder the man to rid himself forever of the villainy the eye possessed. After the murder, the narrator is haunted by the sound of the man’s beating heart to the point that he has to admit to his felony. In this ghastly tale, the narrator is guilty of premeditated murder because he had a reason to kill the man, knew right from wrong throughout the story, and had a plan to kill the old man in advance.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1890. He was an American romanticism author, poet, editor and literary critic. He studied languages at the University of Virginia and married his thirteen year old cousin. Poe having lived a troubled life and losing his parents to tuberculosis at a young age, wrote many sad and morbid stories containing themes such as death, murder, insanity, paranoia, sickness, and tragedy. “The Tell- Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” all contain some or all of these said themes.

Upon examining Edgar Allan Poe’s life, one is not surprised that he chooses to write such gloomy and sinister stories. Poe’s life is far from happy and nurturing. According

Edgar Allan Poe, the remarkable, 19th century writer, who had an appalling life. Poe became extremely famous for his terrifying works of literature after he passed away, but it was Poe’s tragic life that influenced his writing(Edgar Allan Poe). From childhood all the way to adulthood, Poe experienced terrible things in his life that would mentally scar any person. This is shown in three of his most famous writings by having those experiences that he encountered from childhood to adulthood reflect on the different qualities that are shown in works of literature.

Suspense stories use a lot of literary devices to create suspense in the story. Edgar Allen Poe used three literary devices: mood irony and repetition.