Theme Of Irony In The Tell Tale Heart

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In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator does not tell the story because he is mad, but because he is consumed by guilt. Just by reading this story we can come to the conclusion that the narrator is mad, that he had a few screws loose but the reason why I believe he felt the need to share the story is because he feels guilty. Throughout the story he always tries to imply that he is not mad but wise and as he tells the story he mostly feels laughter but as he continues he keeps thinking about the last thing he heard from the old man. As the story comes to the end the heart beat that the narrator keeps hearing I believe is actually his guilt speaking to him, but the narrator tries to play it off but is eventually in …show more content…

One type of irony that appears is verbal irony. We see this when Poe says, (1) “It was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I kill him.” This is ironic because he is praising himself thinking that he is top notch for being kind to the old man even though the entire time he is planning on killing him. Another example of irony is when Poe says, (2) “I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search -- search well.” This is ironic because obviously he knows the officers will not find and is also trying to throw suspicion off himself. It is also fairly ironic in this story is the fact that he would’ve gotten away with. He had the entire crime planned out, and covered up but in the end his guilt got him to confess to the entire murder. There are a few good similes in “The Tell-Tale Heart.” When in the similes that Poe writes is, (2) “until, at length a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider.” This to me means he is saying the ray of light that is shining through the room is as thin as a spider’s web. Another example of simile that Poe writes, (2) “a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.” This sounds like he is describing the heartbeat of a ticking

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