The Tell Tale Heart Compare And Contrast Essay

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EL121: The Short Story and Essay Writing TMA: 2015 - 2016 Comparing and Contrasting the Ends in: "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Scarlet Ibis" As indicated by Hamdi and DeAngelis (2008), there are five elements in the short story: setting, plot, characters, theme and point of view. It can be presumed that the ending of a short story is closely related to at least three of these elements; plot, characters and theme. This is because the ending of the short story is the closing point in the development of the plot; the part that marks the destination or the last development of characters; and also the point where the presentation of the story 's theme is crystallized and fulfilled by the author. This means that the ending of a short story is the …show more content…

Poe 's The Tell Tale Heart, tells the story of a murder, told from the point of view of the murderer who is the protagonist of the short story. The protagonist, who represents himself as a man who is believed to be insane by everyone, but who believes himself to be sane enough. However, the description of his conditions, as hearing continuous noises, and having unexplained motivation to kill his neighbor, actually suggests the possibility that he is actually insane, or at least psychologically disturbed. As the plot progresses, the murder is committed, and while two policemen arrive to investigate the murder, the protagonist seems to be able to distract them. However, as might be expected according to the development of the plot, and in consistence with the character of the protagonist as a psychologically disturbed man, he fails to keep his calmness, and ends up confessing his crime to the policemen, while hallucinating voices coming from the heart of the dead neighbor. Accordingly, in this short story, the ending comes as may be expected and it seems also inevitable, taking into consideration the mental and psychological condition of the protagonist or the