Comparing The Tell-Tale Heart And The Scream

Whether it is the ear-piercing scream heard in Edvard Munch’s painting, or the heart-pounding horrors found in Edgar Allan Poe’s tale, the emotion of fear can be oddly thrilling, yet still very terrifying. “The Scream” by Edvard Munch and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe are two old, but iconic artworks that are largely recognized and admired to this day. These works share many similar themes, such as fear, anxiety, and psychological distress, but they also have a very big and obvious difference: “The Scream” is a painting, and “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a literary work. For this reason, the two works convey these themes in very different ways – and the question remains: which artwork does so in a more effective way? While “The Scream”

For example, many viewers may think that “The Scream” appears frightening or scary-looking because of the central figure’s exaggerated features, or the bright and bold colors used by the artist – and that is exactly what the artist wanted the viewers to experience! That spine-chilling feeling that leaves an effect on the viewers – that is what makes the painting alive. The same thing can be said about “The Tell-Tale Heart,” however, this story achieves that sense of fear and scariness through language and descriptions, and not through visuals. “The Tell-Tale Heart’s” thrilling and scary atmosphere, along with the story’s elements, and the unreliable madman for a narrator, all contribute to that spine-chilling feeling that readers may experience while reading the story – that feeling is what makes the story live. These emotional responses show the effect and power that “The Scream” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” have on audiences. By creating a sense of fear and anxiety within the target audience, Munch and Poe were able to convey these themes by allowing the audience to experience them. As Edgar Degas said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” and this quote speaks to the idea that art is not solely about visual, and in this case, literal representation, but also about the emotions and ideas it evokes within viewers or readers. This means that while

As viewers and readers might have noticed, both works manipulate the perspective of the narrator or artist to create a feeling of tension, which leads viewers and readers to question their perceptions of reality. In both “The Scream” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the artist and author use a first-person perspective to immerse the audience in the artworks, making the viewers and readers experience the themes of fear and anxiety firsthand. “The Scream” shows this perspective by emphasizing the distorted, “screaming” figure, and by doing so, the painting allows the viewers to imagine themselves in the same state of anxiety and distress. Similarly, “The Tell-Tale Heart” gives readers a sense of unease by putting them in the narrator’s shoes, and therefore it allows readers to experience the life of a madman. Whether it is through the distorted figure in the “The Scream” or the first-person narration in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” first person perspective engages with the audience by relating them to the artwork, and by doing so, the artist or author are able to create a powerful emotional connection with their target audience. As Leonardo Da Vinci said, “Perspective is to a painting what the bridle is to a horse, the rudder to a ship,” which basically means that perspective is a crucial tool when