The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, and A Confession by Charles Dickens

A Comparison Between The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, and A

Confession… by Charles Dickens.

A Comparison Between

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'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe 'A Confession' by Charles Dickens

The titles are both self-explanatory, 'The Tell-Tale Heart' tells us

how the heart is an informer, and in 'A Confession found in a prison

in the time of Charles the Second' it says how it is based in the

period of Charles the Second. The title chosen by Poe is appropriate

however the title chosen by Dickens could be more imaginative, and it

is long. Poe's title is more mysterious than Dickens's very plain

title.

The Plot in both stories are based on a murder, and in both the

murderer tries to conceal evidence of the murder but still they are

discovered. The two short stories are both confessions, in Poe's the

murderer could be telling his confession to a friend or a policeman.

In Dickens's the murderers confession is probably a written confession

because he goes deeply into background knowledge. In both short

stories the confession is the climax. The motive for both killers is

also the eye of the victim, because it drives both of them crazy.

Dickens is more informative and factual than Poe's ideas of fantastic

madness. Poe's story is left open-ended, but in dickens's the murderer

tells you that he has one more day to live and then he is executed.

Poe's story starts powerfully with springy exclamatory speeches

however Dickens starts very slow, it is far too factual and Dickens

goes on about background knowledge for too long

There are only two similarities in the setting, that they were both

based in a house. Also they took place in the 19th century. We know

that Dickens based his story in England however we are not told in

which country/area Poe's story is set. We get the impression that

Dickens set his house as a large country house, with an impressive

garden. In Poe's setting of his house we are only told of the interior

of a house, which is probably an average town house. Poe's setting is

more law strophic, however Dickens's is definitely set in a more rich,

and upper class manner.

The characters were both very obsessive. Both characters also stalked

their victims until they suddenly killed them. Both killers had an

obsession with their victim's eyes. Both men were very conniving

characters, as they both were very precise in trying to cover up the

murders. Both targets were also very vulnerable, in Poe's it was an

old man, In Dickens's it was a young boy, both these victims would