“He had the eye of a vulture — a pale blue eye, with a film over it.”
“a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it”
These are cases of imagery because they immediately make for the image of an eye like that in your mind. In the second paragraph it is mentioned that the ‘hinges creaked’. This is imagery because it appeals to the sense of hearing. In the fourth paragraph there are two cases of imagery:
“black as pitch with the thick darkness,”
“the shutters were close fastened”
These are both cases of imagery because they appeal to the sense of sight. In the thirteenth paragraph there is a description of the dark:
“dark as midnight”
This is imagery because it appeals to the sense of sight. Lastly, there is imagery in the sixteenth paragraph:
“I paced the floor to and fro,”
This is imagery because it appeals to the sense of sight.
This story has a narrator who tells the story from a first person point of view. The narrator also is the protagonist of the story, the lead character.
This story has two characters and some people that are of relative importance. Firstly we have the protagonist of the story, he is the lead character, however he is also a flat character since he doesn’t really change throughout the story. The only thing about him that changes is that he becomes paranoid but this is within the character that he already had, therefore he isn’t a round character. Secondly we have the old man, he is a flat and static character that doesn’t change at all. This character is of importance since it is the man that the narrator killed. Thirdly we have the people that are of relative importance, the police officers. They play a prominent role in the becoming paranoid of the narrator, however they aren’t described in the slightest.
This short story has very little dialogue. The only dialogue that is included in the story is one-sided and spoken by either the protagonist or the old man.
The first paragraph describes how nervous the narrator was and still is. He also says that he doesn’t understand why people call him mad. He mentions a disease, I suspect this disease is a mental illness. The narrator says that he heard all the things in heaven, earth and hell. This could point towards the fact that the narrator has schizophrenia making him hear voices. There are two difficult words in this paragraph, firstly we have the narrator saying that his hearing is acute. By this he means that he has sensitive hearing. Secondly we have the narrator saying ‘Harken!’ which in some versions of the short story is spelled ‘Hearken!’, the meaning of this word is to listen carefully. By saying this the narrator tells the reader to listen carefully to how calmly he can tell the story.
In the second paragraph the narrator explains how he got the idea to murder the man. He says that he didn’t know when the idea first got into his head, but that once it was in his head it consumed him. He says that he loved the old man and in saying how the old man never hurt him the narrator comes to the realization that it was the eye of the old man. The eye of the old man looked like one of a vulture, it was a pale blue and had a film over it. The narrator says that whenever the eye looked at him, his blood ran cold. By killing the old man the narrator could get rid of the eye, this was his motivation for killing the old man.
The third paragraph tells of how the narrator was very kind to the old man for an entire week, however for the seven nights in the week at exactly midnight he would stick his head through the door of the room of the old man and look at him. However, he couldn’t kill the man since his eyes were closed and the narrator only wanted to kill the old man for his eye and not for the old man himself. In this paragraph the narrator very much tries to convince the reader that he isn’t mad, stating that a madman wouldn’t do everything with great care and intelligence as he did. In this paragraph there is one difficult word: dissimulation. The narrator uses this word to explain how he went to work looking into the old man’s room. Dissimulation means to hide under false appearance. The narrator uses this word because he was very kind to the man during the day but at night he stared at him sleeping with the motivation to murder the old man.
The fourth paragraph describes the eight night the narrator went into the room of the old man. This night the narrator was more careful in opening the door. This night though, the old man suddenly moved in his bed because the narrator chuckled at his own thoughts. The narrator explains how he didn’t leave the doorway since the room was very dark and continued to very slowly open the door. In this paragraph there is one difficult word, namely: sagacity. The meaning of this word is to have keen perception of the senses.
The fifth paragraph is very short, it merely tells that the narrator got his head in the room but woke up the old man when he made a sound trying to turn on the lantern. The old man springs up in his bed and cries out: “Who’s there?”
In the sixth paragraph the narrator explains how he was quiet stood still for an hour but didn’t hear the old man lie back down in bed again. The narrator explains how the old man was sitting up in his bed listening just like the narrator had done himself for the past nights. The narrator says that just like him he was “hearkening to the death-watches in the wall”. This sentence has two difficult words: hearkening and death-watches. Hearkening means to listen carefully and death-watches refers to deathwatch beetles, which are small beetles that live in woodwork and furniture and make a tapping noise as a mating call.
The seventh paragraph starts with the old man groaning a groan of awe. Awe in this paragraph means the overwhelming feeling of fear the old man has, produced by hearing the noise earlier on. The narrator says that this is a groan that he has groaned many nights before. The narrator then explains how the fear of the old man had been growing ever since he heard the noise. The narrator then tells how the old man, though he could not see the narrator’s head, could feel his presence in the room.
The eight paragraph describes how after waiting a long time the narrator opened the lantern a little, making a small ray of light shine directly upon the vulture eye of the old man. In this paragraph there is simile, the ray of light is compared to the thread of the spider using the word ‘like’.
In the ninth paragraph the narrator tells how the eye of the old man was wide open making the narrator furious when he looked at it. The narrator also explains how it may have been instinct that he had directed the ray of light directly on the eye.
The tenth paragraph tells of how the narrator started to hear the beating of the old man’s heart and that it made him even more furious. In this paragraph the narrator describes the beating of a heart to the sound a watch makes when it is wrapped in cotton. This comparison is also a case of repetition in the story because this comparison is once again made in paragraph sixteen using the exact same words: “a low, dull, quick sound – much such the sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”.
In the eleventh paragraph the narrator says that he didn’t move even though the lantern was shining on the open eye of the old man. The heartbeat of the old man increased and became louder. The narrator then explains how he, when his anxiety about the neighbours hearing the heartbeat of the man, murdered the old man by pulling the bed over him and sitting on it. The narrator then tells the reader how he could still hear the heartbeat of the old man but that after a while it stopped. He explains how he removed the bed and made sure the old man was dead.
In the twelfth paragraph the narrator tries to, once again, convince the reader that he isn’t mad because he took wise precautions in getting rid of the body. He then calmly explains that he dismembered the corpse by cutting of the head, arms and legs in a bathtub so that there was no blood to be cleaned. He then removed some floorboards and deposited the body parts in it. Having done that, he replaced the boards so that not even he could see there was anything wrong with them.
In the thirteenth paragraph some police officers come to his door to search the house, because the shriek the old man made when the narrator was murdering him had alarmed the neighbours. The narrator explains how he had no fear after having murdered the man, knowing he had properly disposed of the body. In this paragraph there is one difficult word: suavity. This word means being smooth though often superficially gracious and sophisticated. The word is used to describe how the police officers introduced themselves.
The fourteenth paragraph describes how the narrator led the police officers around the house making them search very well. He made the excuse that the old man wasn’t in the country to make sure the police officers had an explanation. The narrator then explains how he got some chairs and they sat down in the room of the old man, himself sitting on the spot beneath which the body was. In this paragraph they use the word ‘reposed’, to repose means to lay at rest.
In the fifteenth paragraph the narrator says that the police officers were satisfied and that they were now all sitting in the room chatting. In this paragraph the narrator starts to hear a ringing in his ears but soon realizes the sound isn’t in his ears at all.
The sixteenth paragraph starts out with the narrator starting to grow pale when he realizes that the ringing in his ears is his heartbeat. He compares it to a watch wrapped in cotton. This comparison is also a case of repetition in the story because this comparison was also made in paragraph ten using the exact same words: “a low, dull, quick sound – much such the sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”. The narrator starts to get paranoid making him pace the room as if he was excited about what the policemen were saying. The narrators heartbeat is increasing and he starts to get even more paranoid, specifically about the policemen hearing his panicked heartbeat. As the narrator is hearing his own heartbeat very loudly he starts to think that the policemen already heard his heartbeat and were now making fun of his fear. This thought is starting to drive him crazy and he thinks that screaming, by which he means confessing, is better than the agony the policemen are causing him. In this paragraph there are three difficult words. Firstly there is ‘vehemently’, meaning violently or forcefully. Secondly there is ‘gesticulations’, which are motions of the body or limbs in speaking. Thirdly there is the word ‘derision’, which is the use of ridicule or scorn to show contempt.
In the seventeenth and last paragraph the narrator’s paranoia gets the best of him and calls the policemen villains for mocking him, even though in reality they are not. The narrator then admits to ‘the deed’, which is murdering the old man, even though the police officers didn’t know there was a murder. He tells the policemen to tear up the planks under which the body is hidden. When telling the policemen where to tear up the planks the narrator says that “it is the beating of his hideous heart!” By ‘his hideous heart, I suspect the narrator means his own heart. He clearly stated in the second paragraph that he only wanted to kill the old man for his eye, not for anything else because the old man was always kind to him. In the last paragraph there is one difficult word: dissemble, which means to hide under a false appearance.
I suspect that in this short story the old man is the father of the narrator. My reasoning for this is that the old man lives in the same house as the narrator and is older than him. It is clear that they live in the same house because the narrator only has to open one door to look into his room and the police officers thought it was normal when the narrator opened the street door.
Something else that I suspect is that this entire short story is the statement the narrator gives to the police when he has been arrested. It seems logical that the police officers would call the narrator mad and they would want to know what happened. And so the narrator starts to tell them the story of what happened and at the same time trying to convince them that he isn’t mad.
Author (Edgar Allan Poe)
Biography :
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. His parents were named David and Elizabeth Poe. Poe’s father was from Baltimore and his mother from England, however, she moved to the United States in 1796. Poe has two siblings: Henry and Rosalie. Poe’s mother died in 1811 when Poe was just two years old. Poe went on to be adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Allen. Both of his siblings went to separate families. John Allan was a successful merchant and so Poe grew up in good surroundings and went to good schools.
At the age of six Poe went to school in England for a duration of five years. There he learned Latin, French, math and history. After these five years he returned to the United States and continued his studies. He went to the University of Virginia in 1826 at the age of 17. His adoptive father, John Allan, had enough money but only gave Poe third of what he needed. Poe then started to drink heavily and quickly became in debt. One year later he had to quit school.
Being rejected by John Allan and having no money or job skills, Poe went to Boston and joined the United States Army in 1827. After doing well in the army Poe got the rank of sergeant major. In 1829 Mrs. Allan died and so John Allan tried to be friendly towards Poe and signed his application to West Point, which is a military school. In 1830 Poe entered West Point as a Cadet but he didn’t stay long because John Allan refused to send him any money.
In 1831, Poe went to New York City where he had some of his works published. He submitted stories to a number of magazines but they were all rejected. At this time he had no friends, no job and a lot of financial troubles. He sent a letter to John Allan begging for help but none came. John Allan died in 1834 and did not mention Poe in his will.
In 1835 Poe got a job as an editor of a newspaper after winning a contest. Missing his aunt Mrs. Clemm and cousin Virginia, he decided to bring them to Richmond to live with him. In 1836 Poe married his Virginia, his cousin, when he was 27 and she was only 13 years old.
Poe quit his job as editor in 1836 and went to New York in 1837. A year later he moved to Philadelphia. Here his first volume of short stories was published in 1838. Poe received the copyright and twenty copies of the book, but no money. In 1840 Poe once again started to work as an editor, he kept this job for two years but then quit because he wanted to start his own magazine. He tried to start his own magazine but failed.
Poe had it rough financially, he got some income by selling a few short stories but this wasn’t enough and his aunt had to help him and his family financially. He moved back to New York in 1844. Here, in 1845, he got a job as an editor but lost it again when after a year the journal ran out of money.
Poe’s wife and cousin Virginia passed away in 1847 causing Poe to collapse from stress. Later that year he gradually returned to good health.
Poe once again moved to Philadelphia only to come back to Richmond. Here he joined “The Sons of Temperance” in an effort to stop drinking. On September 27, 1849, Poe left Richmond for New York. He stayed in Philadelphia with a friend and on September 30, he meant to go to New York but he supposedly took the wrong train. On October 3, Poe was found in Baltimore and he was taken to the hospital. He lapsed in and out of consciousness but was never able to explain what happened to him. Poe died in the hospital on October 7, 1849. To this day, it is unclear what happened to him.
Main ideas/famous for :
Edgar Allan Poe is famous for being a writer, critic and editor. He is most famous for his horror and mystery stories and poems. Poe is also famous for some of his personal life such as marrying his cousin and having a very mysterious death.
Most important works :
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
This short story was first published in 1841 in Graham’s Magazine. It is one of Poe’s most important works because it has been recognized as the first modern detective story.
The Gold-Bug
This short story was first published in 1843 in Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. It is one of Poe’s most important works because it is most successful and most widely read prose during his lifetime. It also earned Poe a hundred dollar prize.
The Raven
This poem was first published in January 1845. It is one of Poe’s most important works because it made Poe a household name. To this day it is Poe’s most well-known poem.
This poem was first published in January 1845. It is one of Poe’s most important works because it made Poe a household name. To this day it is Poe’s most well-known poem.
Opinion
First impression :
After the first read, I was really impressed by this short story. I thought it was very well-written and pleasurable to read. Though the story is dark, you get sucked into it and you really do feel that you are in the mind of the narrator. You get to experience his thought processes. The narrator seems to have a real personality even though his personality isn’t described in text. Personally, I like stories that are a bit darker and have some depth. Even though this is a short story I really did feel like there is depth in it.
Overall impression :
My overall impression of this poem is a positive one. I had heart of Poe many times before but never read any of his short stories. I now definitely understand why people say he was an amazing writer.
I really like the length of this short story, just as Poe wanted it can easily be read in one sitting. But it also isn’t too short, you want to be able to get into a story and with this story I was able to do that.
The fact that the story ends with the climax I think is amazing. It means that a story is exciting all the way through. That it ending in the climax means that it has an open ending doesn’t really bother me because it means that you get let your mind run free on what possibly could have happened next.
Having the story take place in just one house, even mostly one room is something I really like. The place isn’t really described because this is a short story, but through certain things, like there being death-watch beetles, you can imagine what the place looks like.
I like the dark atmosphere, but if it had been any darker I wouldn’t have liked it. I still like to read for fun, and if things get too dark and scary that aspect is taken away, making a story not that great.
Imagery is something I really like, there isn’t extraordinarily much of it in this short story, but enough to make it a positive aspect of the story for me.
Something else I really like is that this short story has a narrator who actually tells you the story from his point of view. It feels more personal and adds to the atmosphere of the short story.
That there are only two characters that are important is a positive thing for me, it means that there are only two people you have to get to know. Because this is a short story you can’t really get to know them on a deeper level, but you get to know them well enough.
I think the writing style of Poe is amazing, there are very few difficult words and it is very poetic. These are two things I really like for a story to have.
I like how this story really explores the psychiatric aspects of the narrator. Psychiatry is something I am interested in and this short story is about a murderers psyche
The thing I might like most about this short story is the idea that this is the statement the narrator gives to the police about his crime. It makes me image the narrator sitting in handcuffs in a room desperately trying to convince the police officers that he isn’t mad.
REACTIES
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