A Comparison Of Literary Devices In Tell-Tale Heart And The Birthmark

Poe v.s. Hawthorne: A Comparison of Literary Devices
The similarities between Poe and Hawthorne are very visible throughout many of their works, but most people don't see or grasp the literary devices that make them similar. Tell Tale Heart and The Birthmark are written in a very similar styles but their messages covey something much deeper. Poe and Hawthorne convey the dark side of humanity, but it's the matter in which it is delivered that differs, though yielding the same result
Poe’s short story Tell Tale Heart has a very dark and ominous tone to it. Poe uses different characterization to convey how creepy and ominous the narrator is. Poe characterizes the narrator as an extremely obsessive person. The deranged narrator is infatuated with the old man’s eye. Poe even states that the narrator had no quarrel with the old man other than the fact that the man's glaucoma bothered him. Poe goes into excessive detail about the man’s eye, and about the narrator's plan to remove the man from existence. “It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed.” (Poe). Poe characterizes the narrator as a methodical and seasoned stalker, this

In Tell Tale Heart there is a major overlying ironic theme; the death of one man because of what may be considered a flaw, his eye, at the hands of one with a much more severe flaw, madness. This is ironic because the narrator’s flaw was hidden, but dangerous; while the victims flaw was visible and harmless. The narrator is a madman. He constantly obsesses over the eye of the old man, who has glaucoma. Eventually it becomes too much for him to bear and he kills the innocent old man. The irony as a whole is a device that can create a secret meaning and make the story much better, and Poe uses that technique very well. The use of irony in Poe’s work makes for a much better read and a better story all