Comparison Of Edgar Allan Poe: A Tale Of Two Narraations

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Edgar Allan Poe: A Tale of Two Narrators In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of the Amontillado’ Montresor and the unknown narrator are both murders through their confessions they reveal both their similarities and differences. The unknown narrator is trying to convince the auditor of his sanity while Montresor is attempting to convince the auditor of justifiable revenge. It is through these confessions they are trying to convince the auditor of their humanity and of their innocence through the justification of these horrible acts (Dern 53). In “The Tell-Tale Heart” we learn that the unknown narrator has been accused of being mad and this disturbs him. True!-nervous-very, very, dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will say that …show more content…

The narrator does so in the hope of convincing his auditor of his sanity therefore restoring his humanity (Dern 54). Here with the dashes and an exclamation point it seems very rushed and urgent as the narrator tries to convince the listener of his sanity. It also adds pitch to the conversation transitioning from the high pitch of the exclamation point to the lower or conversational pitch of the dashes (Dern 55). It is because of the speaker’s comment that is an impulse for the narrator’s spontaneous admission regardless of his paranoia. Here Poe establishes the narrator’s verbal skills by developing a mixture of sentence structures. This helps to nurture successful communication among the narrator and the listener. It is through these sentences in which Poe accentuates both the narrator’s scheming and paranoia (Dern …show more content…

It is through the following paragraphs where Poe details both the narrator’s paranoia and scheming as he creeps into the old man’s room each night (Dern 53). Proclaiming that it is because of old man’s eye that he would have to be destroyed. Here Poe uses conjunctions repeatedly to give the story a more serious tone and adding emphasis on the eye rather than the old man (Dern 57). Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously – cautiously (for the hinges creaked)—I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the eye. And this I did for seven long nights-every night after midnight – but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible for me to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye (Poe 2283). Rather than believing himself to be a murder the narrator sees himself as someone who is defending others against the evil eye, and not the old man. His disease has allowed the narrator to see them as two separate entities (Dern58). According to the narrator he is sane as he is able to communicate his story with the listener and that is what the narrator believes restores his humanity (Dern

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