Insanity Effect: An Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe
The definition of insanity, according to dictionary.com is a derangement of the mind. Edgar Allen Poe is known for creating insane characters by using stylistic writing techniques. Poe uses point of view, imagery and irony to create an effect of insanity. Point of view allows the reader to see first hand how deranged the main character is. Imagery paints a picture of the strange world the characters see. Irony shows that despite how the characters attempt to leave their situation, how insane their actions are, it was all for naught, the conclusion was inevitable.
Edgar Allen Poe uses point of view as a stylistic writing technique to convey an effect of insanity. For instance, in Poe’s “The Raven”, the narrator says, “ ‘And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you.’ Here I opened wide the door, Darkness there, and nothing more.” In other words, the
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The narrator imagined the knock; it was all in their head. The audience was able to experience this knock because it was in first person point of view. Another way “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe creates an effect of insanity is when the narrator is “told” by the raven that he will never see his love again, even in death and there is no healing for his pain and grief. This causes him to fly into a frenzy- “‘Be that word a sign of parting, bird or fiend!’ I shrieked, upstarting- ‘Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!’” Basically, they are screaming at a raven that flew in threw their window. That is really quite crazy. No sane person screams at fowl. Sane people do not have conversations with birds either for that matter. Poe also creates an effect of insanity in “The Cask of Amontillado” by using point of view. Montressor states in the first paragraph that “The