Tell Tale Heart Thesis

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Mrs. Shireman English 10 – 8 14 April 2010 Title “They appeared to me white-whiter than the sheet upon which I trace these words – and think even to grotesqueness; thin with the intensity of their expression of firmness – of immoveable resolution – of stern contempt of human torture” (Poe, Pit 1). In both the “Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Pit and The Pendulum” Poe uses many symbols, which present a frightening view on death. “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this!” (Poe, Heart 657). Here the narrator is saying the only reason he murdered the old man was because of the evil eye, which he couldn’t bare to see for another day; as they lived in the same house. This is quite frightening to think about because everyone has their own imperfections but it doesn’t mean that people who cannot stand these traits will kill people because of them. “Shaking in every limb, I groped my way back to the wall- resolving there to perish rather than risk the terrors of the wells, of which my imagination now pictured many in various positions about the dungeon” (Poe, Pit 3). The narrator is frightened of what might happen to him while in the dungeon. He is in fact so frightened that in his imagination there have already been thoughts about what might happen to him if he is held captive any longer. “The disease sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not dulled them” (Poe, Heart 657). The eye symbolizes having an eye for the ultimate truth; with the ultimate truth the narrator can calmly tell the readers the whole story (Ki, 2). “At first they wore the aspect of charity, and seemed white slender angels who would save me; but then all at once, there came a most deadly nausea over my spirit, and I felt every
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