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The Tell Tale Heart Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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Edgar Allen Poe released the short story “The Tell Tale Heart “in January of 1843, about a deranged man who could not bear the sight of an elderly man’s eye, leading him to commit heinous crimes. In this short, yet gripping story, the author plunges you into the mind of a psychopath, through the avenues of his mind and the events that ultimately lead to his own demise. Poe creates a unique ambiance with his writing, leaving the reader with an ominous feeling, and a very vivid visual of the events that unfold on the eighth night of the man’s delusion. Subsequently, the murderous man’s guilt comes to light, proving he too may be capable of more emotion than overwhelming paranoia. From the very beginning of this story the author brings the reader …show more content…

Poe uses clever imagery in the first few paragraphs of this short story, allowing the reader to get inside the head of an unwell man, and to hear his thoughts so-to-speak. Eerie foreshadowing is very present in the openings of the work, undenounced to the audience, making for a gripping conclusion. Proceeding paragraphs reveal Poe’s intentions for the main character, and his twisted plan to rid the world of the eye that he considered to be evil. The protagonist reveals that he has no ill feelings toward the old man the evil eye belonged to, only the eye itself. This is evident by the passage “I love the old man”. He had never wronged …show more content…

Furthermore, this story is very eerie, and is not likely a suitable bedtime story for the adolescent generation. However, if murder-mystery fascinates you, this could be the perfect story to stifle your sleep. This novel could be triggering for anyone who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, as it is exceedingly anxiety inducing and portrays very graphic events that might be a sensitive topic for some. Some of the statements could be quite triggering for someone who has had their life threatened, for example; “He shrieked once- once only. In an instant, I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done.” (Poe). This sentence, like others, could be very triggering for someone who suffers from a disorder such as anxiety or claustrophobia, given the nature of suffocation that follows in the story. In addition, the act of murder could be triggering for someone who does not suffer from a condition, and simply shies away from entertainment that displays

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The author uses several exclamation marks such as after “Heart!” , “tonight!”, Haste!”, and “remember him!”. This ads emphasis and is used so that the reader focuses greatly in those lines as they are the most important concepts to the author. The author, also uses personification and apostrophes like in the word “Heart”. A heart does not think or feel or forget.

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In this section of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator has just concluded cleaning up any evidence that may have been left behind from his crime of executing the old man. The police showed up at 4 am because of a call from the neighbor about the old man screaming. The narrator lets in the officers and leads them around the house, soon he becomes arrogant and even lead them into the room where the old man is. This section has quality diction, “hastily” is used to describe how the narrator worked, it shows that he was working quickly which he believes ties back into his “wise precautions.”

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The author writes, “The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them.” (Poe, 1843) This text describes that the killer has a mental disorder. Poe also writes, “‘Villains!’ I shrieked, “dissemble no more” I admit the deed! - tear up the planks - here, here!

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Analytical Paragraph In the short story, “The Tell Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe creates a scary story about the great lengths the narrator will go to get rid of an evil eye. The Author uses repetition to show the Narrator as crazy. For example, when the Narrator was planing the extermination of the evil eye, he says “I am not crazy” ( Allan Poe 65) multiple times, which leads me to characterize the Narrator as crazy because no normal person would say I am not crazy five times in one sentence. Another example is when the Narrator said “louder it became, and louder...louder louder louder until I could not bear it anymore” (Allan Poe 67).

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Have you ever talked to someone who you knew was crazy then you have probably heard them repeating the stance “I am not mad” These people do not know that they are mad and we must help them before they can hurt themselves In “The Tell Tale Heart” poe repeats that he believes that he is not mad “I am not mad” he says with a strong voice. Why would he continue to repeat that it probably won’t change someone’s mind if he were not mad people would not think that way. Although the prosecutor holds onto the false belif that my client is not mad and should be held accountable for his crimes. The prosecutor argues that the steps that my client takes are “ too well planned out” this is not proof this is a false prejudice that people with mental problems

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The Tell-Tale Heart Essay (make a unique title later) Vulture eyes, horrified groaning, and death, what does this all relate to? This relates to the intriguing story of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. This story is a successful piece of art by providing the readers with many scary ideas, such as the main lead clarifying to us (the readers) that he is sane, and that he ultimately kills an old man because of his intolerable eye. Now, what makes this story so horrifying?

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Because of its unreliable narrator and arrogant perpetrator, I believe “The Telltale Heart” is the most suspenseful of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories, a feeling that Alfred Hitchcock shares

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“The Tell Tale Heart” is a story, on the most fundamental level, of conflict. There is a mental conflict inside the narrator himself (expecting the narrator is male). Through clear clues and explanations, Poe cautions the reader to the mental condition of the narrator, which is insanity. The insanity is portrayed as an obsession (with the old man 's eye), which thus leads to loss of control and in the long run outcomes in violence. At last, the narrator tells his story of killing his housemate.

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“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe is an enthralling and terrifying tale of an insane and paranoid Narrator suffocating his own roommate in his sleep. Throughout the story, fear and dread is a common theme. At every twist and turn Poe creates a sense of uneasiness. Using this, Edgar Allen creates fear and dread through the Characters, Conflict, and Suspense, making the “The Tell-Tale Heart” a scary, and captivating story. Edgar Allen Poe creates fear and dread in “The Tell-Tale Heart” through his characters, more specifically the Narrator.

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The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all, I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.” (Poe 3). This shows Poe’s lack of guilt, foreshadowing the mental breakdown caused by guilt.

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A Tell Tale Heart A person suffering from his inner self can be found to indulge in inhumane actions in the story “A Tell Tale heart”. The author is suffering from different kinds of obsessions which he tries to hide from the audience in the story in order to prove his sanity. In most of the part of the story, Poe is trying to convince the readers that he is not insane. However, his actions and reactions to various things in the story shows his level of insanity.

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He was all right at first, but then his guilt flooded back when he heard a heartbeat, yet he never realized that it was only him hearing it. Also, Poe symbolizes the old man’s eye as the narrator’s flaws and traits. In the story, the text states, “He had the eye of a vulture … for

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1226 Words | 5 Pages

The Tell-Tale Heart: Analysis Poe is best known as the author of horror and suspense. The dark- gothic element that surrounds his stories is enhanced even more with the appearance of multi-complex personalities which ‘move between the edge’ of normal and abnormal. One of his characters that represent this notion is the narrator and main character of his well-known story the “Tell-Tale Heart”. His psychological complexity and his narrative technique immediately captivates the audience attention who ‘struggles’ to come to some conclusion about the narrator’s state of mind. The narrator’s psychological instability is visible through the tone, the syntax and the constant alleviation between sanity and insanity.

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While Edgar Allan Poe as the narrator of the The Tell-Tale Heart has the reader believe that he was indeed sane, his thoughts and actions throughout the story would prove otherwise. As the short story unfolds, we see the narrator as a man divided between his love for the old man and his obsession with the old man’s eye. The eye repeatedly becomes the narrator’s pretext for his actions, and while his delusional state caused him much aggravation, he also revealed signs of a conscience. In the first paragraph of the short story, The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe establishes an important tone that carries throughout his whole story, which is ironic.

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The narrator 's sole reason for such murder is purely in his disturbed mind, as he develops an obsession with the old man 's eye and the plot unfolds from here where his insanity augments with the events of the story. Due to Poe’s illustrative language, various evidence can be presented to confirm the state of mind of the narrator, including, his obsession with the old man’s eye, his precision in committing the impeccable crime and finally the sound of the man’s beating heart solely inside his head. Perhaps it all started with the narrator’s obsession with the man’s “vulture eye” since he believes the eye of being evil, proving the insanity he is gravely trying to deny “I think it was

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