Obsession In The Raven And The Tell Tale Heart, By Edgar Allan Poe

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Edgar Allan Poe can be classified as one of the most well-known authors in history. He enjoyed trying to get into his characters’ minds and explore the paranoia rooted within. Poe is widely known for his extensive use of obsession in his works. An obsession is defined as an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind. Obsession gives the works an overall sinister and grim mood. These moods are exactly what he wanted in his works of death and despair. All of his characters or narrators are always given a sense of nervousness or sensitiveness. Poe decides to explore deep into the consequences of what could happen because of these obsessive propensities. His main obsession in his works is his obsession with death. …show more content…

“The Tell Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Raven,” and “The Masque of Red Death” are all works that relay his theme of obsession and also can relate to his personal life and what happened in his …show more content…

For example, in the beginning of the story the narrator wakes up in a dark place that he is not familiar with. He wakes up and says “I strove to imagine where and what I could be… It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast lest there should be nothing to see” (Poe 107). Poe included this because waking up somewhere dark and unfamiliar is a natural human fear. Something even worse is not knowing what is next or what one’s fate will be. The narrator can see in the last few seconds of his life that he has a choice between life and death. The pendulum that is above him keeps getting closer, but in only one inch intervals each time. Throughout the time he spends strapped down he experiences many different emotions regarding the death that awaits him. The narrators mixed emotions are connected to the swinging motions of the pendulum. At one point, he is so psychologically messed up that he thinks about giving up. However, he tries to disregard his nervousness at the time and think hard about what he can do to save himself. He finally comes up with the plan to save himself from the ultimate pendulum swing that would have killed him and is saved. In “The Pit and the Pendulum,” Poe has an obsession with death and it is shown in many ways. He shows it through diction and imagery by

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