Irony In The Tell Tale Heart

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Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, literary critic, and editor. Despite of his many talents, Edgar Allan Poe is best acknowledge for his poems and short stories, primarily his tales consist of mystery and deception of death. For instance, in the story “The Masque of the Red Death”, the story involves a plague that is killing the people, in which the Prince and his closest friend want to avoid. In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” is about a perfect murder planed out for revenge, in which he succeeds. In the story “The Tell-tale heart” involves the murder of an old man, in which the killer’s heart makes him say the truth. Many of Edgar Allan Poe stories use irony, by expressing a meaning that is contrary of what is expected throughout the
Poe lets the reader now at the end of the story, “I admit the deed! – tear up the planks! – here, here! – it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (442). The narrator could not handle anymore the noise of the beating heart that he was hearing so loudly. This shows the reader without a doubt that the narrator’s own heart is what make the narrator confess of the murder he committed. An article written by Jennifer Bouchard states, the heart... serves a dual purpose…the narrators own nervousness and guilt over his actions causes him to confess his crime” (1). The narrator believed that he was going to get away with murder, so confidently that he had the policemen sit right on top of the dead body. Yet the narrator’s own beating heart is what gave an opposite result of what the he expected. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of irony is significant because it shows the reader how the own narrator confessed his crime and helps the reader understand the message of the story the heart that

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