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Irony In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

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In literature, the most satisfying stories have an ironic element to them. The irony unravels many characterics of the story without directly stating it and in turn, tells the opposite of what is presented, and Edgar Allan Poe’s 1843 short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” shows how this can enhance a story. This gothic fiction focuses on an unnamed narrator as he tries to justify his various actions against an old man. Through his attempts, however, contradictions and irony in his actions start to appear. Poe uses irony in “The Tell-Tale Heart” to show how the narrator's attempts to present his sanity reveals his insanity through his various actions and dialogue.
The narrator’s insanity is revealed through the irony of his dialogue. For instance, …show more content…

An example of this is seen as the narrator stalks the startled old man and causes him to groan in fear and the narrator laughs, “I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart” (Poe). Laughing at others’ misfortune is already an action that does not show good character, but this is highlighted more since the narrator claims to pity him in the same sentence. This is another contradiction. People can not reasonably pity an innocent person while also causing a person’s misfortune and laughing in the act of doing it. This allows the readers to safely assume that the narrator is not a reasonable person. Another instance is also seen during the beginning when the narrator resolves to murder the old man, “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (Poe). Instead of avoiding the man for his eye or even ignoring it, the narrator takes up the option of just murdering the old man. The narrator in the story tries to justify his murder to reveal that he is in fact not insane, however, killing a man because of his eye is not a probable justification for murder and as such deemed a murder. The irony is held since the narrator tries to escape being called crazy, but murdering an innocent man over a pointless facial feature. Overall, the inclusion of irony into the narrator’s actions reveal his true dark character, which he often tries to

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In the story, “Tell Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe creates an ironic, or sarcastic, tone through his choice of diction, figurative language, and irony. First, in paragraph one, the narrator says, “True!--nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” Poe uses words such as dreadfully, nervous and mad to show diction. This contributes to the tone because he is saying that he isn't mad when in fact, he had killed someone over their vulture looking eye. Poe also uses a lot of figurative language throughout the story.

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By using irony, readers can hear the wisdom in the older narrator but also get to know the narrator in the story – the younger version. Because irony is used, readers can tell when the ‘character’ narrator is oblivious to being used or discriminated against. Irony allows readers to see how naïve the narrator was when he was younger – something that he himself recognizes as he gets older.

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“ The Tell-Tale Heart” Interpretive Essay Is the complex character created by Edgar Allan Poe a calculated killer or a delusional madman. In the short story “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character has a mental condition which causes him to kill a neighbor. He believes that his neighbor has a “vulture eye” which is the reason why he killed him. Night after night, he watches the man and plans how to kill him. Then one night, he puts his plan into action.

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The Ironic Truth Irony is a complex and important element of literature that can help discover hidden perspectives within characters or hide the truth in plain sight. The story by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a great example the dark ironic twist that happen in the story. The main character, Montresor, is hell-bent on getting his revenge on the man who shamed him, Fortunato. The verbal and dramatic irony that is being used in the story “The Cask of Amontillado” helps hide the true intentions that Montresor has planned for Fortunato. Verbal irony happens when one character says one thing but actually means something completely different.

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Situational Irony in Short Stories Being surprised can bring out several different emotions, some good, some bad. When authors surprise you by creating an unexpected twist in the plot of the story it is called situational irony. Surprise is not the only feeling authors create by situational irony. In the short story “Ransom of Red Chief”, O.Henry uses situational irony to create the feeling of humor. Another example is by Guy de Maupassant the story “The Necklace” he uses the situational irony in the story to make the reader feel sympathetic for Madame Loisel.

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Poe use situational irony when he describes that he pitied the old man, although he chuckled at heart. This is situational irony because Edgar Allen Poe was planning to murder the old man and when he stated that he pited the old man, the audience became surprised because that is the opposite of what we expected

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The man says, “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing.” Tying in with the arrogant tones as well, the man has a very dark mind and the readers get a glimpse of his thought train through first person. He explains he needs to “take the life of the old man and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” No sane person would kill over a color of an eye, but as he describes the old man’s eye, the audience begins to understand why he takes the life of the old man.

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Irony takes place in all of Poe’s stories, and it is very easy to notice what the most ironic parts are in all of the texts too. However, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of the Red Death”, have the most ironic sequences in them. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator is so confident that he had thought of everything, that he had the perfect plan, but he hadn’t planned for the guilt that would later haunt him after he killed the old man. He ended up confessing his crime to the police and even tearing up the floorboards where he had stashed the old man’s remains. For example, “I admit the deed!

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The narrator believes himself to be very intelligent and clever when he goes into the old man’s room at midnight. Poe’s word choice of “caution” and “how wisely” represents the man’s view of his own sanity. Yet the act he performs and the reasoning behind his murderous intention convinces the reader that the narrator has lost his sanity. He plots and is driven to kill a man after claiming, “ I loved the old man.

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The Tell-Tale Heart Argumentative Paragraph In the story, “ The Tell-Tale Heart ,” Poe gives ideas which could prove that the narrator is criminally insane. The narrator could be named mad for some of his many actions and thoughts. The facts supporting this include: the defendant killed the old man over his “evil eye”, he brutally murdered the man and dismembered his body, he has to remind himself that he isn’t mad even though he committed murder, and states that he hears the dead man's heartbeat get louder and louder until he confesses murder. To begin with, the defendant kills the old man he lived with over his “evil” eye. He states that it gets to him, and drives him to eventually, after the 8th night, kill him.

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Another example of irony in this text is dramatic irony. The reader knows that the narrator is planning to kill the man very soon, while the man has no clue that he is about to be killed, and he is just sleeping. “To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.” The readers know that the narrator is stalking the old man, while the old man is just sleeping. Suspense is created since the reader does not know what the old man will do, whether he will be killed, or whether he will notice the

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Obsession, internal conflict, and underlying guilt are all aspects of being human but when it’s associated with paranoia and insanity it may be just the recipe for the perfect crime as perceived by Edger Allan Poe in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe uses this as one of his shortest stories to discuss and provide an insight into the mind of the mentally ill, paranoia and the stages of mental detrition. The story 's action is depicted through the eyes of the unnamed delusional narrator. The other main character in the story is an old man whom the narrator apparently works for and resides in his house. The story opens off with the narrator trying to assure his sanity then proceeding to tell the tale of his crime, this shows a man deranged and hunted with a guilty conscience of his murderous act.

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