Discuss who could be the villain (antagonist) in Tell-Tale Heart? Consider your many options for the villain and discuss your rationale for your final choice.
What is the narrators motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
1. I believe that the antagonist in the Tell-Take Heart was the eye of the old man. This is because the eye acts as a mirror showing the protagonist his true self. This drives him mad because he does not like what he sees. In the end, it was this horrible blue white vulture eye that makes the protagonist kill the old man.
ReplyDelete2. It is the horrible blue white vulture eye that the narrator tells is the reason for his crime. The protagonist states, "Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees- very gradually- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for forever." It was the eye that made him kill the old man, nothing more.
3. The irony on the Tell-Tale Heart was that it was the protagonist's beating heart, which showed his guilt from killing the old man, that made the protagonist give in. It was the beating of his own heart, the tell-tale heart, which made him which made him tell the true tale of what really happened that night.
1. I believe that the antagonist in the Tell-Take Heart was the eye of the old man. This is because the eye acts as a mirror showing the protagonist his true self. This drives him mad because he does not like what he sees. In the end, it was this horrible blue white vulture eye that makes the protagonist kill the old man.
ReplyDelete2. It is the horrible blue white vulture eye that the narrator tells is the reason for his crime. The protagonist states, "Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees- very gradually- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for forever." It was the eye that made him kill the old man, nothing more.
3. The irony on the Tell-Tale Heart was that it was the protagonist's beating heart, which showed his guilt from killing the old man, that made the protagonist give in. It was the beating of his own heart, the tell-tale heart, which made him which made him tell the true tale of what really happened that night.
Comment by: Leah Eisenberg
1. there are many villains in the story. The main villian being the eye reflecting his repressed emotions that he is not crazy.
ReplyDelete2.)He is trying to convince himself and the reader that he is not crazy and that he had a logical reason to kill the old man. However he succumbs when he is talking to the officers.
3.)The irony was that the beating heart was his succumbing to the guilt he obtained. It was in fact his own heart beating loud and lead him to tell the tale of the hideous heart.
- Desiray W
Discuss who could be the villain (antagonist) in Tell-Tale Heart? Consider your many options for the villain and discuss your rationale for your final choice.
ReplyDeleteThe antagonist differentiates a lot during the short story, the antagonist could be the the old man because his eye is bothering the protagonist, but the protagonist could be the actual narrator because he is the one doing the crime. The antagonist in my opinion is the eye because the eye is what is stopping the protagonist from acting normal.
What is the narrators motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
His motivation in reciting the crime is the fact that he hears a heart beating under the floorboard which haunts him, but in reality it's his actual heart beating extremely hard.
What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
The ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart is the fact that he tells himself and he tells the audience that he's not crazy while in actuality he is, the irony is also the fact that he brings himself to his own downfall because the heart that was beating "under the floorboards" was his own and he confessed to doing the crime because the heartbeat haunted him.- Jon Walter
1. I believe that the antagonist in the Tell-Take Heart was the eye of the old man. This is because the eye acts as a mirror showing the protagonist his true self. This drives him mad because he does not like what he sees. In the end, it was this horrible blue white vulture eye that makes the protagonist kill the old man.
ReplyDelete2. It is the horrible blue white vulture eye that the narrator tells is the reason for his crime. The protagonist states, "Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees- very gradually- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for forever." It was the eye that made him kill the old man, nothing more.
3. The irony on the Tell-Tale Heart was that during the entirety of the tale, the protagonist was trying to convince the us that he was not crazy. However, at the end of the tale that all falls apart when he thinks that the old man's heart is still beating, has a freakout, tells the police what he did, and gives in to his own madness.
Comment By: Leah Eisenberg
Sorry, I meant in the Tell-Tale Heart, not on.
ReplyDeleteComment by: Leah Eisenberg
1. The antagonist in the story in Tell-Tale Heart was the eye. The eye is a reflection of the protagonists and he does not like himself. The eye brings out the protagonists repressed feelings.
ReplyDelete2. I feel that the motivation of the narrator reciting the crime is to convince not only the reader but himself that he is not crazy and that he is smart. He wants to show the careful consideration and planning that was done before killing the old man.
3. The ultimate irony would be the fact that the protagonist still heard the old man’s heart beat under the floor board. This meant he really was not dead. This brings back all the repressed emotions that the protagonist thought he had solved and put away by killing the old man and getting rid of the eye.
1. I believe that the antagonist in the Tell-Take Heart was the eye of the old man, “I think it was his eye yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembles that of a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it,” (Poe 121). Vultures are carrion birds, which eat the leftovers of another creature’s meal; it can be believed that vultures are symbols of decay and despair. For it is when people lost in the endless sea of sand of the desert see these birds, they often despair since these birds only eat the already dead. In this case, vulture eye acts as a mirror showing the protagonist his true self and the protagonist does not like what he sees. This drives him mad because he does not like what he sees. In the end, it was this horrible blue white vulture eye that makes the protagonist kill the old man.
ReplyDelete2. It is the horrible blue white vulture eye that the narrator tells is the reason for his crime. The protagonist states, "Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees- very gradually- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for forever," (Poe 121). It was the eye that drove him to kill the old man, nothing more.
3. The irony on the Tell-Tale Heart was that during the entirety of the tale, the protagonist was trying to convince the us that he was not crazy. However, at the end of the tale that all falls apart when he thinks that the old man's heart is still beating, has a freakout, tells the police what he did, and gives in to his own madness.
Comment By: Leah Eisenberg
1. There are many possible villains the Tell-Tale Heart; such as the “eye,” (Poe 121), that according to the protagonist, “whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold,” (Poe 121). In addition there is also the protagonist’s very own heart, which he thought was the dead man’s, “it is the beating of his hideous heart,” (Poe 124), that made him tell the police what really happened that night and what he did. I personally believe that the antagonist in the Tell-Take Heart was the eye of the old man, “I think it was his eye yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembles that of a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it,” (Poe 121). Vultures are carrion birds, which eat the leftovers of another creature’s meal; it can be believed that vultures are symbols of decay and despair. For it is when people lost in the endless sea of sand of the desert see these birds, they often despair since these birds only eat the already dead. In this case, vulture eye acts as a mirror showing the protagonist his true self and the protagonist does not like what he sees and makes him despair. This drives him mad because he does not like what he sees. In the end, it was this horrible blue white vulture eye that drives the protagonist to kill the old man.
ReplyDelete2. It is the horrible blue white vulture eye that the narrator affirms is the reason for his crime. The protagonist states, "Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees- very gradually-I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for forever," (Poe 121). Since, “for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye,” (Poe 121), the only logical reason as stated earlier for the protagonist to kill the old man was to rid himself of his tormentor, the eye. Then when the old man “was stone dead,” the protagonist said, “His eye would trouble me no more,” (Poe 123). This proves that it was the eye that drove him to kill the old man, nothing more.
3. The irony on the Tell-Tale Heart was that during the entirety of the tale, the protagonist was trying to convince the audience that he was not crazy. However, at the end of the tale that all falls apart when he thinks that the old man's heart is still beating and admits to the crime, “I admit the deed!-tear up the planks!-here, here-it is the beating of his hideous heart!”(Poe 124). For at the end of this tale, the protagonist gives into the very insanitary he told the audience did not exist. In addition, this irony relates to the tale of the story itself, The Tell-Tale Heart, for it was the protagonist’s very own heart beating with guilt and worry that made him tell the truth of the tale. He thought that it was the old man’s heart that was still beating that, “low, dull, quick sound- much such a sound as a watch when enveloped in cotton,” (Poe 124), not his own, and that became his downfall in this story of The Tell-Tale Heart.
Comment By: Leah Eisenberg
1. There are a lot of possible villains in the Tell-Tale heart such as the eye, the old man, or even the narrator. It could be the eye, because the eye is what is bothering the protagonist(who is the narrator). The narrator could also be the villain because he says "And this I did for seven long nights – every night just at midnight." (3) he waited outside of the old man's room for 7 nights, every night, and at midnight. It also lets us know that he's in a gothic novel because everything bad happens at night and the setting is dark. Another possible villain in the Tell-Tale Heart is the eye of the old man because it's what is bothering the protagonist. The protagonist says " 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! He had the eye of a vulture - a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees - very gradually - I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever." (Poe 124) This shows that he is going out of his way to destroy something that bothers him, which isn't a very valid point (to me) to take another human being out of the world, which brings me to say the last possible villain which is the Narrator himself. The protagonist is the villain in my opinion because he is the epitome of his OWN evil. He is disturbing the peace by killing the old man.
ReplyDelete2.His motivation in reciting the crime is the fact that he hears a heart beating louder and louder under the floorboard which haunts him, but in reality it's his actual heart beating extremely hard so he tells the police the exact story down the tiniest details. This is important because he tries to convince the audience that he isn't crazy the entire story.
3. "Now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton." (Poe, 125) This hints that the heartbeat could be thought of as each person's personal internal clock. When it stops, we do too. After this, the narrator says he knows the sound is the man's heart beating (when he's still alive). In fact, the narrator makes a big deal about knowing this. And then after that he saysIt was a low, dull, quick sound and he forgot about it after making such a big deal about it. That's part of the irony behind the story. Another part of irony behind the story is that it's called the tell tale heart and at the end he tells the TALE to the police because of the HEART that was beating under the floorboards which was his own.
1. The antagonist in the story in Tell-Tale Heart was the eye. The eye is a reflection of the protagonists and he does not like himself. The eye brings out the protagonists repressed feelings. The old man does not bother the narrator it’s just his eye.
ReplyDelete2. I feel that the motivation of the narrator reciting the crime is to convince not only the reader but himself that he is not crazy and that he is smart. He wants to show the careful consideration and planning that was done before killing the old man. He also wants to make himself feel better about killing the old man because deep down he knows that he has done something wrong.
3. The ultimate irony would be the fact that the protagonist still heard the old man’s heart beat under the floor board. This meant he really was not dead. This brings back all the repressed emotions that the protagonist thought he had solved and put away by killing the old man and getting rid of the eye. More irony would be that he went through all the planning to kill the old man and it doesn’t work.
1. The antagonist in the story in Tell-Tale Heart was the eye. The eye is a reflection of the protagonists and he does not like himself. The eye brings out the protagonists repressed feelings. The old man does not bother the narrator it’s just his eye. The narrator expresses that he loves the old man,” I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult.”
ReplyDelete2. I feel that the motivation of the narrator reciting the crime is to convince not only the reader but himself that he is not crazy and that he is smart. On the page 121 the narrator says, ”Ha! would a mad man have been so wise?” He wants to show the careful consideration and planning that was done before killing the old man. He also wants to make himself feel better about killing the old man because deep down he knows that he has done something wrong.
3. The ultimate irony would be the fact that the protagonist still heard the old man’s heart beat under the floor board. This meant he really was not dead. This brings back all the repressed emotions that the protagonist thought he had solved and put away by killing the old man and getting rid of the eye. More irony would be that he went through all the planning to kill the old man and it doesn’t work and he ends up telling on himself, by yelling, “Villains, dissemble no more! I admit the deed!-tear up the planks! – here, here! – it is the beating of his hideous heart!”
- kirsten
the narrator's motivation in reciting this crime is proving to himself and the reader that he is not mad. He tries to displace the blame on others instead of succumbing to his own madness. his tone through the story is calm until he is with the policemen. his madness leads him to confess to his actions.
ReplyDelete- Desiray W