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Tension In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allen Poe

Decent Essays

“Pessimism and optimism are slammed up against each other in my records, the tension, and Irony between them is where it's all at, it's what lights the fire.” This quote shows how memorable things can be as tension amplifies its significance and its representation of the short story,“ The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. This story is the most appealing story because the tension and irony within the story cause it to become rather memorable than the other stories; that rely on something dull, and forgettable such as foreshadowing. The short story, “Tell-Tale Heart” is an appealing story because of the many literary elements used, such as the sense of tension created as the story reached its climax. The sense of tension was first introduced …show more content…

Unlike the other short stories, there was dramatic, verbal, and situational irony which touched several core human values. An example of this is when the narrator states “I heard all things in the heaven and on the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?”(Poe. 140) The quote demonstrates dramatic irony since the reader knows that the unknown narrator is insane, but the narrator himself does not know this;the narrator is convincing himself that he is not mad, even though he hears things in heaven and hell. Additionally, the short story also states “His room was black as pitch with the thick darkness (for the shutters were close fastened through fear of robbers), and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it steadily, steadily” (Poe Pg. 141). This quote is an example of situational irony because the event that occurred was the exact opposite of what the reader expected. In other words, the narrator tells the reader that the windows are closed tightly due to the old man being afraid of robbers, but the only robber that is near the house is the narrator, who is living with him. Moreover, the narrator states, “I loved the old man...I think it was his eye!...I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” As can be seen, the quotation demonstrates verbal irony since one thing is stated, but the …show more content…

This claim is supported by the text when Montresor states that he has “vowed revenge” and that he would “punish with impunity”; illustrating that he is going to enact some awful fate upon Fortunato. However, the short story, “Tell-Tale Heart”, also uses foreshadowing, and unlike “Cask of Amontillado”, the foreshadowing used isn’t the main literary element used throughout the whole story. An example of foreshadowing used in “Tell-Tale Heart” is when it states “The disease has sharpened my senses -- not destroyed -- not dulled them” (Poe 140). To put it differently, the citation foreshadows that the old man was to be killed soon , and the narrator could hear the beating of the old man’s heart due to his “sharpened sense”. Due to this, the “Cask of Amontillado” isn’t really an appealing story, since the “Tell-Tale Heart” uses the same element, in addition to other

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