Poe's Critical Theories
Portfolio Activity 02
1) Read the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Allan Poe and answer the following questions: a) In which perspective is the story told? “In The Tell-Tale Heart” by Poe, it’s a short story told in 1st person by a crazy man that try to convince the readers of his sanity. This man has no name and he’s narrator and character too.
b) How can you characterize the narrator? Is he a minor or major character? Why? So, he is a first-person narrator and he is a major character, because he is the main person in this story. This short story starts and finishes with him. And he tells all situations with details. He isn't omniscient, but it is the essential for this tale of Poe.
c) Concerning the organization of events in the story, are they presented in a linear or a non-linear sequence? What’s the effect of such organization on the reader’s reaction? This short story is presented in a linear sequence, because it presents beginning, middle and end. And this events respect a chronological order. This nameless character that narrates these facts, he remembers and reports all the way: since his thinking initial about the old man's eye; until the murder. The effect is surprise and curiosity to know how this situation of madness, obscurity and suspense will finish. So, he holds of the reader’s attention until the end of this short story.
d) It can be observed that the main character rationalizes facts. What’s the impact of that on the report of the situation? Provide quotations from the short story to illustrate your argument. After reading “The Tell-Tale Heart”, it’s visible a kind of war inside of narrator, because he says, he reports, he recounts and he reaffirms that is healthy. But, at the same time, he shows how he had planned to kill that man, and what had motivated this action. When he says: “TRUE!-NERVOUS--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am! but why will you say that I am mad? The
1) Read the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Allan Poe and answer the following questions: a) In which perspective is the story told? “In The Tell-Tale Heart” by Poe, it’s a short story told in 1st person by a crazy man that try to convince the readers of his sanity. This man has no name and he’s narrator and character too.
b) How can you characterize the narrator? Is he a minor or major character? Why? So, he is a first-person narrator and he is a major character, because he is the main person in this story. This short story starts and finishes with him. And he tells all situations with details. He isn't omniscient, but it is the essential for this tale of Poe.
c) Concerning the organization of events in the story, are they presented in a linear or a non-linear sequence? What’s the effect of such organization on the reader’s reaction? This short story is presented in a linear sequence, because it presents beginning, middle and end. And this events respect a chronological order. This nameless character that narrates these facts, he remembers and reports all the way: since his thinking initial about the old man's eye; until the murder. The effect is surprise and curiosity to know how this situation of madness, obscurity and suspense will finish. So, he holds of the reader’s attention until the end of this short story.
d) It can be observed that the main character rationalizes facts. What’s the impact of that on the report of the situation? Provide quotations from the short story to illustrate your argument. After reading “The Tell-Tale Heart”, it’s visible a kind of war inside of narrator, because he says, he reports, he recounts and he reaffirms that is healthy. But, at the same time, he shows how he had planned to kill that man, and what had motivated this action. When he says: “TRUE!-NERVOUS--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am! but why will you say that I am mad? The