The Tell Tale Heart Comparison Essay

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Comparison of “A Rose for Emily" and “The Tell-Tale Heart" In the short story by William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” details the isolation and mental illness of a woman can not let the memory of her beloved Homer go. “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe, follows the madness of a man who can not stand the look of an old man’s Evil Eye. These stories have many comparable aspects, such as the use of Gothic elements, the homicidal tendencies of the main characters, and the insanity of the main characters. The first comparison found in these short stories is the gothic elements like the isolationist setting. Emily isolates herself from society in her large and decrepit southern mansion. This isolation is evident when the narrator of “A Rose …show more content…

Emily is in complete denial about the death of her father for days before she begins grieving. Also, she reacts to Homer leaving her by murdering him. And as it is discovered upon her own death, she slept with his skeleton. Evidence of this presents itself at the end of the story, “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (par. 60). The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” thinks he can hear things in both heaven and hell as well as on Earth. He believes his madness has sharpened his senses rather than ruined his judgement. He thinks the old man’s eye is evil. He thinks it watches him, and he believes that he can not get any peace or rest until he gets rid of the Evil Eye. After he murders the old man and hides him under the floorboards, he begins to hear a heartbeat that gets louder and louder. It gets so loud the narrator is convinced that everyone can hear it so he confesses to his crimes. Both characters are ruled by their insanity, but the madman’s is evident from the beginning and Emily’s reveals itself in the

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