The Evil Eye in The Tell-Tale Heart Essay - 1795 Words

The Evil Eye in The Tell-Tale Heart In Edgar Allen Poes Short story The Tell-Tale Heart much is made of the evil eye of the old man. Immediately we are introduced to a man who would never hurt a fly. The narrator of the story even goes so far as to say he loved the old man. This old man is portrayed as one who would do anything for you. However, the caretaker of the old man has one small problem with the old man. The eye that darn evil eye! What could cause a person to become enraged by an eye and only one eye? Martha Womack stated that the violence comes from an irrational fear represented through the old mans eye. The belief in the evil eye dates back to ancient times, and even today, is fairly common†¦show more content†¦Clearly there is a reason for the usage of only one eye. B. D. Tucker wrote of the possibility of the eye representing a higher being. This sparked the option and bringing about the eye of God belief. Talking about many things from the Cyclopes, the possibility of an eye of a higher being, and more so on the Christian side of what the story means. Tucker wrote more about the ties to The Bible with the three men who come to the door after the murder. The mentioning of the possibility of the eye as a higher being caused me to pursue how the eye could be that of the one true God. Focusing on the ending of the story when the three officers I wanted to look at the influence of God in the earlier stages of the story with the evil eye. I needed to find where a single eye is used in other areas both in literature and in everyday use. There were many places to look but none would deal with God until I looked closer at both my Bible and at the symbolism of one eye. I remembered seeing a single eye on the Great Seal of the United States both on the eagle and on the capstone of the pyramid. This got me thinking as to when the seal was placed on the dollar bill. As stated at the Great Seals website the seal was first placed on the one dollar bill in 1935 well after the publishing date of The Tell-Tale Heart in 1850 (Kennedy 33). However, upon further reading about the seal I noticed it was created in 1782 so PoeShow MoreRelatedThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe879 Words   |  4 PagesIn between guilt, paranoia and obsession The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe uses several literary elements to support the themes of the story. The story is based on a gruesome murder of an old man. The author uses madness, obsessio n and guilt as themes to prove how the narrator is truly twisted and insane. Madness is the first theme of the story; in the beginning the narrator tries to convince the audience he is not mad (insane). â€Å"TRUE!... nervous very, very nervous I had been and am; but whyRead MoreAnalysis Of The Tell Tale Heart1092 Words   |  5 PagesThe tale of the heart In the short story, â€Å" The Tell Tale Heart† written by Edgar Allen Poe the insane narrator tells us about the murdering he committed. Because the narrator saw the man and his cataract eye as evil, he thus killed the man. To start with, The narrator would go into his room every night at midnight to see when it is a good time to kill him. The narrator would go into his room every night at midnight to see when it is a good time to kill him. â€Å" Gradually- I made up my mind to takeRead MoreThe Importance Of Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allen Poe800 Words   |  4 Pagesthe importance of the readers imagination in creating a scary tale. Another well known author, Edgar Allan Poe, mastered this technique by creating story’s that draw the reader into his freighting world in one of his famous stories. In the The Tell-Tale Heart. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe is horror story because it has suspense, an internal monster, and the plot is more import ant than the character. One reason The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is a horror story because of the suspenseRead MoreAnalysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s A Tell Tale Heart1289 Words   |  6 Pages Inside the Heart There are many well-known poets, but not many are as unique as Edgar Allan Poe. By the age of 13, Poe had become a creative poet (Biographies). Many of Poe s works were horrific fictional stories. His first book was published in Boston in 1827, called Tamerlane and other Poems. More of Poe s major works include Tales of the Grotesque a d Arabesque, which included his most spine tingling tales such as Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher. Most of Poe s works haveRead MoreEssay on The Tell-Tale Heart852 Words   |  4 PagesAndrew Fiddler Professor Esquivel English 1020 15 February 2013 Themes of â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† Edgar Allen Poe explores the similarity of love and hate in many stories, especially â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart.† In â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† the narrator confesses a love for an old man whom he then violently murders and dismembers the body and hides the pieces below the floorboards in the bedroom. When the police arrive, the narrator appears normal and unshaken by the murder. Later on, the man gives inRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe Essay1477 Words   |  6 Pagestried to convince yourself and others that you weren’t in the wrong for doing something bad? Well, the narrator in the story The Tell-Tale Heart does. Edgar Allan Poe is known to write stories that are of Dark Romanticism. Dark romanticism is a literary genre that showcases gothic stories that portray torture, insanity, murder, and revenge. The story â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† is no different. Edgar Allan Poe does a great job with making the readers wonder throughout this sh ort story. This allegory makesRead MoreSymbolism in Poe’s Works Essay1166 Words   |  5 Pagesfeeling into their literary work they are writing. Edgar Allan Poe frequently uses this literary device in his works. Symbols are many times seen in his poems and in his short stories. Many symbols are evident in Poe’s works â€Å"The Raven,† â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† and â€Å"The Black Cat.† Because Poe’s works are typically dark, his use of symbols is in a dark way. Although there are many types of symbols manifested in these stories, Poe’s works generally include a symbol that eludes death or the end of somethingRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart Essay1427 Words   |  6 PagesThe Tell Tale Heart The Tell Tale Heart is a story about a man who killed an old man just because he didnt like the way his eyes looked like. The main character speaks about madness as being a gift and not a kid of disability for example in paragraph one on page 93 he says: but why would you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses-not destroyed-not dulled them. The mad man killed the old man and then cut him up and put him under the floorboards ofRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart And The Birth Mark Only A Couple Of Months Apart1428 Words   |  6 PagesContemporaries Edgar Alan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne published their respective short stories The Tell-Tale Heart and The Birth-Mark only a couple of months apart. The Tell-Tale Heart is the personal account of a young man’s descent into madness as he becomes increasingly fixated on the eye of an older man, presumably his father. Similarly, The Birth-Mark narrates the story of a young couple, Aylmer and Georgiana, and how the latter’s birthmark becomes the obsession of the former. Poe and Hawthorne’sRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart And The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow1690 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† and â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† One of Washington Irving’s short and most famous stories ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ has become a ghoulish characteristic yet an individual might still be unaccustomed with its idiocy (Hoffman, 425). Based on the real legend of Ichabod Crane, the story reveals how he disappeared. For that reason, the story revolves around the themes of wealth, appearances, truth, warfare, supernatural, gluttony and greed. On the other hand, The Tell-Tale