1. 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.
2. 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.
3. What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
Grigg-
ReplyDelete1. I think that the villain is the heart of the old man with the evil eye. The protagonist kills the man in an attempt to rid himself of the turmoil that he feels from evil eye. Police come to inspect the protagonist house as they heard screams in the night; the protagonist has complete confidence that the police will not discover the hidden murderer (in the floor boards). Yet as he is chatting with the police he begins to hear that evil menacing heart beat below the floor. He describes the sound of the heart: “It was a low dull, quick sound- much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.” (“The Tell-Tale Heart”, 124). He is overcome with guilt at the beating of the heart. He admits to the killing with haste saying: “‘Villains!’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -tear up the planks!-here, here!- It is the beating of his hideous heart!’” (“The Tell-Tale Heart”, 124).
2. The narrator recites the crime because it was a dark and ominous time for him and left a lasting impression on him. He felt very guilty for slaying the old man as he listens to the heart beat beneath him.
3. The story is ironic because the protagonist says the whole time that he is not crazy and very much sane, yet he hears the beating of a very dead heart. It is ironic that he is tormented by the evil eye, yet in the end it is the heart that drives him to insanity: “For it was not the old man who vexed me but his Evil Eye” (“The Tell-Tale Heart”, 121).
Grigg- Additions
ReplyDelete1. I think that the villain changes throughout the story. At the beggining the villain is the evil eye because that is what vexes the protagonist, but after killing the man to get rid of the eye he hears the heartbeat. A this time the heart is now the villain. As he crumples under the guilt he admits to the murder calling the police villains:“‘Villains!’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -tear up the planks!-here, here!- It is the beating of his hideous heart!’” (“The Tell-Tale Heart”, 124). I also think that the villain is different for each character. For the old man the villain is clearly the protagonist that kills him and the police are very much good in his eyes.
2. The narrator recites the crime because he feels great remorse after the murder of the old man.
3. The title "The Tell-Tale Heart" is ironic because the heart is what essentials confesses the murder to the police as it vexes the emotional state of the protagonist to a state of such guilt that he yells his guiltiness. The name shows how the heart tells all.
1. At first, the villain seems to be the old man. The old man brings out the protagonist's craziness, and seems to make him feel really uncomfortable. It is the old man's eye that really bothers the protagonist. To him, the eye is evil and the eye is the antagonist/villain. After he slays him, the heart becomes the antagonist. He can hear it beating, and it brings out his repressed craziness in front of the police because he ends up confessing to the murder. Overall, it was the heart that ultimately brought out the protagonist's repressed emotions.
ReplyDelete2. "It grew louder-louder-louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!-no, no! They heard!-they suspected!-they knew!-they were making a mockery of my horror!" Guilt is what motivates the protagonist into admitting the crime. The guilt comes from the heart beat he hears.
3. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is what gets the protagonist to confess to the murder, because it gets to core of the protagonist's guilt.
Arianna's Response To Tell-Tale Heart!
ReplyDelete1. The topic of “villain” in this piece of gothic literature is very datable. The overall and most obvious villain is of course the murderer/ antagonist, but there are many other potential villains. In the eye of the killer he is not the villain, but the victim. In the eye of the victim the guy he killed/ took care of is not the villain. The villain is the eye on the man he is forced to look at every day. Some significance of this eye makes the murderer dislike the man and want to kill him. It is like the man’s eye and the man are two completely different things. “…-all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones, but I could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon damned spot”(123). It was something about this eye that made the murderer crazy enough to kill someone. Another one of the murder’s villains is the beating heart he keeps hearing. We discussed this on Thursday and spent a lot of time debating if it was his heart beating; or an illusion of the heart of the man he just killed. I believe that he kept hearing his own heart beat and he felt for the first time remorse for killing the old man he sad to be his friend. The last potential villain to the killer is the police officers. He feels they are the villains since they provoked feelings of guilt and remorse of the murder he just got away with. The narrator says it all in the ending lines of his poem, “Villains’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed!- tear up the plans!-here!-here!- it is the beating of his hideous heart!”
2. The main reason the narrator recites his killing is to prove to people he is not crazy. He is trying to prove that he feels guilt and sadness for his actions and that he really did love the old man. In the beginning he tells about all the happy times he had with the old man and how he took care of him and in the end he does admit his murder along with his wronging.
3. The irony is that he is writing this story to prove to himself and the reader that he is not crazy and he had reasons for his murder.
Arianna's Response Tell-Tale Heart
ReplyDeleteAdditional Analysis
1. In addition, there is also debate that the beating heart is the villain. "I swung the chair upon which I had been siting, and grated it upon the board, but the noise arose over all and continually increased"(124). The beating of the heart is essentially what got the murderer to comfess his murder and therefore he believes it is the villain. All and all, after this long debate I believe that the real villain is the old man's eye. It is the reason for the narrator's murder and his insanity.
2. Another thing is that in the duration of the story the narrator always backs up his doings with reasonings. He is trying to prove that what he did was not crazy. "I was never nicer to the old man than the week before I killed him"(123) is the famous quote he says from this story. He is trying to say prove that he is a good person and prove to himself that he is good and had reason for killing.
3. Another thing that could be irony in this story comes from the title. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a play on words due to the fact that it was the heart that triggered the man to tell the story of the murder.
Arianna's Response to Tell-Tale Heart Part 3
ReplyDelete1. After today's discussion about the villain and further conversation with my group I decided to change my view on the ultimate villain. In gothic literature the villain must prevail over all and the murderer does not; in the end it is the beating heart that does. The beating heart is the thing thtat triggers the murderer's repressed emotions and makes him confess his murder which is how the beating heart defeats the killer.
1. I think the eye is the villian because it seems to bring all of the repressed emotion out of the narrarator. It also is what causes him to become violent towards the old man and kill him. That's why the nararrator was not able to harm the old man the first 7 night because he could not see the "evil vulture eye"
ReplyDelete2.The purpose of reciting the crime I think is two things. First I think it has to do with the narator feeling guilty about the crime so he wants to confess it all in detail. Also though I think he wants to brag about killing the evil eye because it did haunt him.
3. The ultimate irony is that in the end it is the beating of the narator's own heart that causes him to confess from the guilt of the crime. There for giveing the story the title "The tell tale heart" because it is the narrator's own heart that ends eveything.
Grigg- Additional analysis
ReplyDelete1. I now beleive that the villain is the eye because it represents the repressed emotions of the protagonist. This is the reason the murderer had to wait seven days to kill the old man because he was vexed by the eye not the old man
Allegra's First Analysis for Tell-Tale Heart
ReplyDelete1. At first, the villain seems to be the old man. The old man brings out the protagonist's craziness, and seems to make him feel really uncomfortable. It is the old man's eye that really bothers the protagonist. To him, the eye is evil and the eye is the antagonist/villain. After he slays him, the heart becomes the antagonist. He can hear it beating, and it brings out his repressed craziness in front of the police because he ends up confessing to the murder. Overall, it was the heart that ultimately brought out the protagonist's repressed emotions.
2. "It grew louder-louder-louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!-no, no! They heard!-they suspected!-they knew!-they were making a mockery of my horror!" Guilt is what motivates the protagonist into admitting the crime. The guilt comes from the heart beat he hears.
3. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is what gets the protagonist to confess to the murder, because it gets to core of the protagonist's guilt.
Revised Analysis for questions 1 and 2-Allegra
ReplyDelete1. The villain appears to change throughout the story. First, the eye seems to be the villain since it is what bothers the protagonist most. However, towards the end the heartbeat is what truly brings out the protagonist’s repressed emotions, and prevails in the end.
2. The narrator recites the crime because he is trying to convince himself and the reader that he is not crazy. He recites everything like it is logical and normal.
Allegra's 3rd Analysis
ReplyDelete1. The narrator makes it clear that the eye disturbs him form the very beginning. He says “I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that 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” (Tell-Tale Heart, page 121). It is the eye that drives him to killing the old man.
However, towards the end the heartbeat is what truly brings out the protagonist’s repressed emotions, and prevails in the end. The heartbeat he hears could either be from the old man or the narrator himself. I think it is from the old man because it symbolizes that the evil from the eye has not gone away. “Villains! I shrieked. Dissemble no more! I admit the deed!-tear up the planks!-here, here!-it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Tell-Tale Heart, page 124).
2. The narrator spends the story explaining why he killed the old man, and sounds very logical to himself. He is convinced that he is not crazy, and explains that he loved the old man and it was just the eye he had to get rid of. “I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more” (Tell-Tale Heart, page 123). The narrator thinks that the way he buried the body makes him sane. “If you still think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body” (Tell-Tale Heart, page 123). He thinks that because he is wise, he is not insane. However, he is smart but still crazy.
3. The irony is that the heart is what ultimately makes the narrator confess the murder in the end. It is the constant beating that he hears that drives him crazy and makes him feel guilty. There is the idea that the “eye” is still living. This is why he decides to confess.
Grigg-
ReplyDeleteThird Analysis
2. Throughout the story the protagonists tries to convince his readers that he is not crazy. I think that he does not want people to hear about the murder and immediately assume he is isane, so he writes a story explaining his motives.
3. The irony in the tell-tale heart is that it is the heart that pushes the protagonist to confessing the murder in the end. In the title it sounds as if the heart tells the police of the murder but it is really the protagonist that confesses the deed.
Arianna Amini, Additional Analysis Part 4.
ReplyDelete1. After class discussions we debated over the antagonist and came to a conclusion that the final and great antagonist was the beating heart. It is what triggered the man to admit his murder and it is was made the man come to the conclusion that he really was crazy. The beating heart whether it his heart and a imaginary heart it brought out the repressed emotion in the killer which is gothic literature's definition of an antagonist.
2. In the story the killer keeps making himself the victim and the old man the antagonist. He tries to make himself look good by saying he took care of the old man and he loved him which only makes us readers think he is even more crazy. I think by trying to back up his murder makes the man all the more insane.
3. Adding to my last post about the title "The Tell-Tale Heart" is ironic because the heart was the thing that got to the killer. It was the thing that triggered Mr. Hooper into telling the story so it was really the heart that told the story.
1. It could be any of the characters in the story depending on from whos perspective you look at it. I think the two "villians" are the evil eye and the nararator becuase the both cause someone to do something that they would not normally do. With the eye it's getting the old man killed and with the nararator it's cutting up the body and hideing it but the guilt getting to him is what he is forced to do becuase he has to tell the police.
ReplyDelete2. I think he recited the crime to make himself feel better and also to show how he almost got away with it.
3. The irony is that the man's beating heart is a big changing point in the story when he is killed but the irony is that it's the nararator's heart that eventually changes the path of the story because he starts to feel guilty otherwise he would have gotten away with the crime no problem however his conscience kicks in and he is forced to admit his deed.