Miss Strangeworth Discrimination

Danial Suhail

Ms. Passerelli

ENG3U1.14

9 March 2023

The Masquerade of Evil: The Role of False Identities

Appearances can be deceiving, for behind every smile lies a different face, a mask that hides a world of emotions and secrets. In The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson and The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, appearances are exploited through the character’s deceitful nature, leading to a sense of alienation and ignorance with Miss Strangeworth’s domineering personality and the unknown narrator's lack of empathy. Miss Strangeworth’s deceptions are rooted in her self-centered, hypocritical opinion of others. Miss Strangeworth wakes up to see a green letter at her door that looks oddly familiar: “Miss Strangeworth stood perfectly still

No, because no one would know where to sent it. How did this get here?” (Jackson 6). Miss Strangeworth likes to mention others' faults rather than accepting any herself, causing her to be more misleading in her true personality and what she conveys to others. Her clueless act or simply her lack of acceptance demonstrates her innate perfectionism. Her self-deceptions are leading her down a path of isolation, which is seen through the people around her at the end of the story when he realizes the town she thought was her own is a facade. The author's use of first-person perspective allows bias and egotism to shine through in her personality. Furthermore, Miss Strangeworth’s ignorance of her actions results in her own blindness to others. Miss Strangeworth decides to enter her lovely sitting room instead of having her cup of tea: “Miss Strangeworth had put a bowl of her red roses on the low table before the window, [...] She never knew when she might feel like writing letters, so she kept her notepaper inside, and the desk locked” (Jackson 4). Miss Strangeworth's roses symbolize her essence, as she is seen as pleasant like the blossom on a rose but on the bottom, it's thorny which is not obvious at first but can hurt those who end up touching

The unknown narrator’s omniscient perception of life leads to his own vulnerabilities. The unknown narrator emphasizes to the audience that his emotions are nervous but not mad. He says, “I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?” (Poe 1). The unknown narrator is implying that he is all-knowing and has experience from both sides. This implication is brought up to justify his self-image as in control of his emotions. However, his presumption with regard to having experienced it all leads to a limited scope of the old man’s situation exposing his weakness. Miss Strangeworth also has a similar experience as her outward personality and perfectionism leads her astray providing more areas of vulnerability. In this case, Miss Strangeworth was narrow-minded since the beginning due to her status and upbringing while the unknown narrator progressively loses his humanity as he is exposed to the reality of mankind and its worth through the old man. Similarly, the unknown narrator’s implacable fanatic personality to rid himself of evil exposes his lack of humanity. The unknown narrator is haunted by an idea that he has conceived. He says, “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his