Preview

The Tell Tale Heart And The Black Cat Analysis

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3402 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Tell Tale Heart And The Black Cat Analysis
Term Paper - 1
On
‘Edgar Allan Poe’s Experimental Art Of Narration With Reference To The Tell Tale Heart and The Black Cat ’
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for Award of Degree of
B.A. Hons. English - 4

Submitted By: Supervised By:
Annant Gaur Dr. Smita Mishra
A0706113077 Asst. Professor

Amity Institute of English Studies and Research
AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH
India

Introduction
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, also considered the part of the American Romantic Movement. He is best known for his short tales of mystery and macabre. Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story, and is generally considered
…show more content…
The beginning of the content acts as making the very first impression on the mind of the readers. The beginnings of these shorts are enough to give you the hint of the potentiality that Edgar holds in his story telling. His short, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ opens with the line, “True! Nervous- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses-not destroyed-not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then am I …show more content…
Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad I am not-and surely do I not dream”. So, this tale also opens with the character questioning his psychology like ‘The Tell Tale Heart’. But this tale is different in the terms of the depiction of scenario and it also deals with one more theme, i.e. the theme of memory and the accident or the unplanned murder which is caused by the tension of the planned things going wrong. The Back Cat tells the story as the name suggests of our main character and his complicated bond with his black cat, which is named as ‘Pluto’. No the cat is not haunted neither the house in which the character lives but the story starts with the character telling his readers about himself. He tells the readers that he is fond of animals and that he loves pets. He also tells the readers about his wife whom he loves a lot. The line from the short, “We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat”, depicts that how much our main character is fond of domestic animals. Then Poe ultimately draws the attention of the readers to the one significant animal that the title suggests ‘The Cat’ by adding to the line, “This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree”. Poe

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Cited: Poe, Edgar A. "The Tell-Tale Heart." Literature for Life. 1st ed. Vol.1. N.p.: Pearson, 2012. 39-42. Print.…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe; one of the most famous gothic writer known to America. His work consists of dark mysteries which mostly revolve around death. Many say that the reason of Poe's gothic writing style would be because of his past. It is well known that Poe’s work would reflect himself in one way or another. As a matter of fact, according to a short story written in 1839 titled, “An overview of the ‘Tell Tale Heart,’” John Chua mentions that “Critics who have studied Poe sometimes suggest that his characters resemble him both physically and temperamentally”. This helped his work to be transparent and gave the readers a chance to know what was actually happening inside of Poe’s dark mind. The readers get to see how the events in his life bleeds…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In my opinion, both narrators are unreliable. Although both narrators are unreliable, I believe that the narrator in "The Black Cat" is is a little more reliable. It's hard to say that one narrator is more reliable when they both have very similar characteristics. Both narrators are delusional and have personal issues. As I read "The Tell-Tale Heart," I learned that the narrator had no friends, he was paranoid, and he probably didn't know the difference between real and unreal. There is no doubt that the narrator in "The Black Cat" has anger management issues. These anger issues led to the murder in a short story. The main reason that I chose the narrator in "The Black Cat" to be more reliable was because I knew more about him. Meanwhile,…

    • 224 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    With all the terrorism that has been happening around the world, it might remind you of the way the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart goes insane and makes irrational actions. The short novel The Tell-Tale Heart written by Poe is one of his best works from all the stories that I have read that was written by him.…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat,” the narrators share similarities in their view of an individual and in their actions. Both narrators claim that they are sane as their senses have been evidence to support them and by having the ability to wholly retell the events that had transpired. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator kills an old man, however he had no ill will against him, stating, “I loved the old man” (“The Tell-Tale Heart”). His fury was at the old man’s eye, which he deemed to be vexing him. He chopped the old man apart and hid the parts under the floorboards. He was so proud of his work that when the police came, he took them to the spot above the body: “In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Edgar Allen Poe, the one of the greatest American teller of mystery and suspense tales in the 19th century was a tormented artist. He struggled to become the accomplished author he is known as today. Poe overcame a lot in his life with, his own unhappy lifetime, he struggled to make ends meet, and live with the memories major tragedies in his life. Poe is now acclaimed as one of America's greatest writers of his time.…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” are both very similar in writing technique and multiple plot characteristics, but there also some differences as well. One of the main differences between these two short stories is the way the reader finds out the ending of the plot. In “The Black Cat”, the narrator tells that he has committed a crime at the beginning of the story by saying “But tomorrow I die, and to-day I would unburden my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events.” The reader finds out that the man is writing his confession of a crime that he is sentenced to death for, but the reader does not find out what the crime is, or any details about…

    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Edgar Allan Poe’s short tale, « the tell tale heart », his imagination, creativity and psychological complexity shines; however, the strength of the stories lies in the theme because the story is built up around it. This trademark interpretive form of fiction begins with a mentally ill narrator retelling a horrendous story, in first person narrative, of motiveless murder. The madness of the narrator is easily shown at the beginning, however the narrator believes that his disease has only heightened his senses, when he implies, “… have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense (6)”. as the story progresses, the reader learns that the protaganist has hidden the victim and shortly after, the murder…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Best known for his poems and short fiction. Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous American poets. He deserves most credit for short suspenseful mysteries and he perfected the area of horror stories. He wrote many famous poems like "The Raven" and "The Bells". Poe was a genius and very meticulous in his stories every clue had to fit and that's why he didn't make a lot of short stories but a small collection of great short stories.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe was a well known author from the 1800s even still today. He was the author of stories and poems such as The Bells, The Raven, The Cask of Amontillado and many more. He faced rough times in his life and that is why his poems and stories are so sad, suspenseful and gory. Edgar will always be remembered as a good author.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic. He started off writing poems and then books. He experienced so many tragedies in his life that his writings got darker. His writing was influenced by the loss of so many loved ones, his unstable love life and his alcohol abuse. His horror stories are some of the scariest stories ever written.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Tell-Tale Heart

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, presents to the reader a psychological depiction of a narrator who describes his crime with detailed accounts. This Gothic short story shows the dim side of individuals. The story is narrated in first-person; as a result, the reader is not able to conclude a great deal of what the narrator is saying is true. Poe utilizes his words prudently throughout the story to expose a review of paranoia, insanity, and mental declination. The story is stripped of additional elements as a method to intensify the narrator’s fixation with certain and unembellished objects like the eye of the old man, the heartbeat, and his assertion to sanity. Even though the narrator constantly affirms that he is not insane, the reader could presume otherwise due to his bizarre way of thinking, actions, and dialogue.…

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, who is also connected with the American Romantic Movement. However, he was best known for his tales of mystery and horror. He was among the earliest American authors to write short stories and is usually considered the creator of what is now called the detective-fiction genre. He is also credited for his contribution in the ever evolving category of science fiction. His works have greatly swayed American literature and also other specialized fields like, cosmology and cryptography. His best known works of fiction were generally Gothic and dealt with themes like the effects of decomposition, the concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning.…

    • 2280 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe, reputed as the father of American short stories, is a poet, writer and literary critic of nineteenth century. His works, most of which explore the dark side of consciousness and subconsciousness of human beings, was well-known for horror and mystery. "The Black Cat" is one of Poe's masterpieces. It depicts love, hatred and fear between men through the narration of the changing relationship between a mentally abnormal man and a black cat. Loneliness, death, torture and abnormal psychology are core elements in "The Black Cat" This thesis aims to conduct a research on how Allan Poe managed to achieve psychological horror in "The Black Cat."…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    "Duncan Campbell Scott." UBC Wiki. 4 Jan 2012, 21:31 UTC. 6 Aug 2013, 20:44 .…

    • 2975 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays