tell-tale heart questions

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.

In my opinion the eye is the ultimate villain. The eye causes the man to feel the strong urges of anger and the uncomfortable feeling. The man thinks he is doing something good by destroying the eye because he has such hatred for it that he feels that killing the eye will put the end to all of his misery.

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.

           

            The narrator cause for killing the eye is motivated by anger and hatred. Which to an outsider could seem crazy. After all people cant just go around killing other people because they irritate them.  The narrator does not want you to think he is crazy but to understand why and how he did it, so that you don’t judge him by his actions but by his logic behind the murder.  

3.)What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?

            The ultimate irony is that the man spends so much time and works on all the little details into the planning of his perfect murder that he never stops to think about how he might feel after he had executed his plan. In the end his guilt gets the bet of him when he cant stop hearing the “heart beat of the old man” that he confesses to the crime.   

xoxo

RACHEL!

A Supplement to Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"

Hello everyone,

I know that this supplement is a little over due, and I apologize for that. Now, that I know how to successfully upload an image, and I can add what I wrote and analyzed in weeks prior. (I know, it is "lame" that someone like me did not know how to do something so simple, but now I have learned from my fellow decepticons and I promise I will not be "behind" anymore.

Here is a sketch representing Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”. The image displays the protagonist in how he resembles the Red Death with his dagger and appearance. The protagonist has almost met his demise, as he is presented as a skelaton running away from the black chamber and time, which is monitered by the ebony clock on the west wall. In this, the image displays the protagonist’s revellers, who have already met their demises, while the protagonist tries to escape his fate by repressing his mortality.

Love A, an ultimate decepticon

Allison 

An Addition to Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"

            Here is a sketch representing Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”. The sketch displays the protagonist watching over the old man sleeping when he comes into his room in the middle of the night. However, this represents the night, where the old man wakes up and questions himself if there is anyone there. The structure of this sketch is quite significant. The old man is facing outward, but in the protagonist’s view the old man has his body turned away. Thus, when the protagonist comes into the old man’s room, he is unable to see the “Evil Eye”, and can see only the innocent old man whom he loves. With seeing only the old man, it indicates to the protagonist to barely open the door to watch him, for the protagonist does not want to kill the old man, but rather isolate himself from the old man’s vulture eye forever.

Love A, an ultimate decepticon
Allison 

A Decepticon Analysis of The Tell-Tale Heart

Hi guys! The Decepticons have finished The Tell-Tale Heart at last! Here's my analysis of this Poe Gothic story.

1.) Discuss who could be the villain (antagonist) in The Tell-Tale Heart.  Consider your many options for the villain and discuss your rationale for your final choice.

The only human characters in this Gothic story are the narrator, the old man, a neighbor, and the police.  Other characters include the old man’s eye and the heartbeat.  The narrator is a strong contender for the villain from the beginning, as he states that he wanted to kill the old man.  However, the narrator loses his battle in the end, and a key detail of classic Gothic literature is that the villain always triumphs.  Therefore, the narrator cannot be the villain; rather, he is the protagonist.  The neighbor also could not be the antagonist; he/she is mentioned only in one line.  The police could not be the villains, for they are symbols of good in this story.  They are nothing more than an opportunity for the narrator to give away the secret of his murder.  This leaves the old man, his eye, or his heart as the villain.  The old man himself is not the villain, because it is not he who triumphs over the narrator.  The heartbeat also cannot be the villain because it does not represent the narrator’s repressed emotions/personality, which in this case is his insanity.  In essence, the heartbeat is merely what causes the narrator to confess his murder to the police.  The eye is the true villain, as it symbolizes the narrator’s insanity by making him nervous and anxious.  The film over the eye represents the narrator’s blindness to his own insanity.

2.) What is the narrator’s motivation in reciting the crime?  Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.

The narrator is desperate to convince us, the readers, that he is not insane.  In the very first line of the story, he asks us why we consider him mad and adamantly maintains that what people think is madness is actually a nervous disposition and heightened senses, especially of hearing.  In his sixth sentence, he says that he will tell us the story in the calmest of spirits.  However, it is obvious (hopefully) to the reader(s) that the narrator becomes more and more riled as he relates the tale of his murder to us.  I personally imagined spittle flying from his mouth, wild gesturing, and pacing to and fro in his jail cell as reaches the climax of his story.

3.) What is the ultimate irony in The Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
The ultimate irony in The Tell-Tale Heart is stated in the very last line.  The narrator calls the policemen villains, unaware of his own villainy.  Another example of irony used in the story is the fact that the narrator keeps saying that he is not insane.  He tells his story to persuade us that he is not insane.  However, the story gives us a very clear indication of his mental instability.

Maria, an Ultimate Decepticon

Up Very Late And Very Long, But Ready For A Tale's Analysis

Hello Everyone,

This week's blog post is yet another of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. However, this week I have a different analysis for you. The concentration of this week is on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". I must say that this is my favorite story of Poe's literary work. The tone of the writing is very passionate and captivating. It is truly a vivid image with the power and diction that Poe experiments with. But....one cannot read this story once and see the power of the whole story. Correction, well one could do that, but he or she will not be able to depict the great meanings, symbols, and connections of Poe's classic tale. Therefore, after countless power naps, cans of Sierra Mist Free, bottles of grape G2 Gatorade, runs to my refrigerator for refueling, and hours of hearing MTV, I have an overview analysis of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". (And I forgot to mention, the panic of almost forgetting to post this weeks topic...oops...but it is okay now, because I am here to discuss my interpretations and analysis).

Before I share my analysis, here are the questions all the Ultimate Decepticons were supposed to think about when writing the analysis for this week:

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 narrator’s 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?

Okay, those were the questions, and here is the best part. Well, considering if you are one who ignores the rest of my posts and scrolls down to see my analysis of the literary concentration for the week. Whoever you may be, here it is: 

1.   In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, one could analyze and conclude that there is a possibility of multiple villains in the gothic piece. One could conclude that the villain was the old man’s eye, the old man’s heart, or even himself. In gothic literature, the villain depicts the repressed emotions of the protagonist. In this case, the protagonist is the narrator. If one chooses the villain of the story as the heart, the heart represses the guilt of the protagonist. Through symbolism, the heart speaks to the conscience of the old man with its beat. In the story, the narrator describes the heartbeat to get louder and louder, which reflects the growing remorse of the narrator as he continues to suffer with his actions. In this case, could one perceive that the protagonist is hearing his own heartbeat, as he believes that he is hearing the heartbeat of the dead old man? The protagonist is driven crazy by the end of the story, in which he hears the “speaking” of his own heart, along with knowing the heart of the old man reflects his guilty conscience. This affects the protagonist in his demise, which he fell into his remorse, and ultimately presented his crime and dismembered heart and old man to the police striving for an act of penance.   
Now I am starting to have second thoughts about who is the true villain of the story is. The ultimate emotion that the protagonist is trying to repress is his insanity. Throughout the entire story, the protagonist tries to convince readers and himself that he is not crazy. However, the murder of the old man is not one that is attached emotionally, due to the narrator's love for the old man and he does not have anything against him. When the protagonist sees the "Evil Eye", it makes him nervous, which creates anxiety. At the end, it is the sight of the eye, which drives the protagonist to confess his awful deed. The sight of the eye, adds to the remorse of his guilt, but is considered the representation of the protagonist's insanity. Thus, proving that the villain prevails, the sight of the eye controls and overpowers the protagonist's insanity.   

2.   The narrator quotes at the beginning of the story, “The disease had sharpened my senses-not destroyed-not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe, how healthily-how calmly I can tell you the whole story” (Poe 121). The narrator’s motivation for committing the crime is his view of the old man’s vulture eye. His motive is not the old man himself, because the protagonist views the old man and his eye as two separate factors. This affects how it took the protagonist seven nights to finally kill the old man. Leading up to the murder, the protagonist would go into the old man’s room at around midnight. Since the old man was sleeping, he was unable to see the “Evil Eye”. In this, the protagonist only saw the innocent old man sleeping, which means that there is a deeper meaning to the “Evil Eye”. One could theorize that the eye symbolizes a deep manifestation of the protagonist, which could symbolize something that he is unable or unwilling to separate from himself. The narrator opens the story with describing as he not crazy for his action and can tell one in a calm manner for this reasoning. 
Where in reality, as one reads the story, the narrator explains in a very loud and passionate tone of his reasoning. The narrator creates a vivid image of the situation, which perceives one to be alive in that scenario as the narrator is narrating the story. In all, the does not persuade one to believe that the narrator is not crazy, but more or less it convinces one that the narrator is unable to convince himself with his imagery and tone that he is not crazy or wrong in his action.       

3.   All right, this question has stumbled me the most. However, after a few hours of thought I think I have something…maybe. The narrator main objective in the story is to perceive readers that he is not insane, and that his actions were done for the greater good. In this, the narrator tells us his story, and how he really loved the old man and how he had really no reason to kill the old man himself. All the narrator wanted was the “Evil Eye” to be gone. The narrator tells a tale about the murder of the old man, but if the protagonist listened truly to the “speaking tale” of his own heart, he would have not needed to blame his guilt of the old man’s heart. As he killed the old man, in reality the old man’s heart would have stopped, which illogically cannot prove that is was the old man’s beating heart that was repressing the narrator’s guilt. The protagonist’s heart was really leading his own mind, not the beating of the old man’s heart, which he convinced himself that it was the entire time. 
Moreover, the protagonist’s heart was the factor leading his mind throughout the telling of this disheartening tale, as if he truly loved the old man himself, his heart would have never told him to kill the old man, nor tell this tale.

I hope everyone enjoyed this week's analysis and post!

This is your Ultimate Decepticon, A, with love, 

Allison 

A Clip from Vincent Price's Masque of the Red Death

*Checking in from Decepticon Headquarters*

Here's the video clip from where I got the picture.  It's called the Dance of Death.

Enjoy!

Maria Xie, General of the Androids, an Ultimate Decepticon

Analysis of The Masque of the Read Death

Hi everyone,

Here is my analysis thus far of Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death. Certainly, this first post of mine is not perfect at all. It may be pretty far from where it needs to be. But that is okay, each time I log in and add to my posts, my analysis will progress to get better. Anyway, I am not completely finished for this week's post so far, so wait until tonight and tomorrow morning- for when I will wake up and I start to get to business on   "perfecting" my blog and posts.
So.....here is my first attempt, I promise more and probably better will be arriving very soon!

1. Describe the internal and external workings of the Protagonist (Prince Prospero).

         From annotating this text, there are many ways for one to classify the workings of the Protagonist, Prince Prospero. As a wealthy man, Prince Prospero takes great pride in himself and his great fortune. In the beginning of the story, the narrator quotes that the “Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious.” Ultimately, it is his excessive self-indulgence that creates Prince Prospero to be ignorant of the effects of the Red Death. Even though he knows there is a rise in the deadly disease spreading, the prince believes internally that he is immune to the evil fate of the Red Death. It is not until towards the end of the story, when one sees his emotions and realizations of the Red Death. At that moment the narrator tells, “he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow was reddened with rage” (Poe  260). Overall, the tone of text, which concentrates primarily on the protagonist, changes from the beginning to the end.
Towards the end of the text, the arrogance of the Prince gets the best of him and so consequently, he is affected and meets his demise. Internally, one can sense that the Prince clearly contains no worries about himself of his fate. However, externally, he voluntarily alienates himself from his revelers and society.  One could depict that the protagonist must have a little fear for his fate because of his extreme intentions of alienation. As the revelers are invited to the party, one does not see Prince Prospero interact with any of them. This analysis clue one to see that there is a distant relationship between the Prince and his revelers.

2. Why does Prince Prospero voluntarily isolate himself?          

            Ultimately Prince Prospero isolates himself voluntarily in the text. The focus of this action is to exclude him from society, so he is able to avoid the Red Death and his demise. In his deep seclusion, his self-absorption creates him to perceive that his self overshadows society and the plague. Prince Prospero decides to host a masquerade ball in order to hid is identity and slight fear from the Red Death. This extravagant fete allows himself to become even more absorbed into his character, even though in the end he encounters what he has tried to escape.      

3. Who does Prince Prospero invite to his great fete?

            For his great fete, Prince Prospero invites all of his greatest revelers. With this, the Prince uses his own revelers ask a mask to isolate himself from society and the Red Death. Upon his strategy, Prospero is able to devour himself at his great fete. The great fete contains the theme of a masquerade, where every attendee must wear a mask to cover his face. However, this symbolizes Prospero’s plan for everyone’s identity to be secretive towards the Red Death.                

4. Describe Prince Prospero's great fete and the physical description of each of the seven apartments (chambers).

            In Prospero’s great feat can be described as a magnificent structure presented with eccentric and august taste. In the entire voluptuous scene, there are seven chamber in total in the palace. The layout of the entire palace is described to be quite bizarre, as it does not reflect an average residential layout during this time. The narrator quotes each chamber as, “To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened” (Poe 257).  On the east extremity of the chambers the first chamber, is blue and so where its windows painted with such a vivid hue. The second chamber was purple, which contained purple ornaments and tapestries, as well as its panes were purple also. The third chamber is described to be green throughout as its casements are green throughout too. So on, the fourth is lighted with orange, the fifth is white, and the sixth is violet. 
However, the last chamber was considered to be the most powerful and different chamber out of all. The narrator describes, “The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, failing in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet-a deep blood color” (Poe  257). The seventh chamber is portrayed as a deep darkening mysterious room, as it is decorated all in unison unlike the rest of the chambers.
 Moreover, what sets this chamber from the rest is the giant ebony clock that is against the western wall. This clock signifies the speed of time, as it is pressed against the western side, the clock and its time tracks the life of one where it symbolizes the last few ticking moments of one’s life on Earth.

5. Who is the villain and how does he represent the "repressed emotions" of Prince Prospero?

            In Gothic literature, the villain encompasses more power and control than the protagonist. In this story, the villain is the Red Death, as it contains more power over the actions of Prince Prospero. The protagonist in Gothic literature always can see a mirror image of himself within the villain. The Masque of the Red Death portrays Prospero as he is trying to represent his mortality. When Prospero meets the Red Death in the seventh chamber, he realizes that his repressed emotions are contained in his enemy, the Red Death. 

So, that is it for today, and more revisions and additions will be coming in the next day or two for sure! 

Have a great day, and remember I am your ultimate deception...

Love, 

Allison 

VINCENT PRICE

*Checking in from Decepticon Headquarters*

I'm uploading a nice picture I found of Vincent Price acting as Prince Prospero in his film version of The Masque of the Red Death. The Red Death still has his mask on, and Pros----df8#3m*) v917'adf----(sorry, technical difficulties there), and Prospero is looking up to the Red Death. That is significant of how Prospero respects the Red Death; Prospero calls R.D. "Your Excellency," and thinks R.D. is an important messenger of Satan.

Maria Xie, General of the Androids, an Ultimate Decepticon

The Masque of the Red Death - Q&A

*checking in from Droid Base 58*

I've just finished Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, and I have to say, it's amazing.  It's deep - it makes you think.  Writing about the Red Death has got me excited, and I can't wait to blog about The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado!  They're two of my favorite Poe stories, the third being The Fall of the House of Usher.  Unfortunately, I won't be writing much about Usher (not the singer, sorry if I got your hopes up), but stay tuned for The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado!

1.)    Describe the internal and external workings of the protagonist (Prince Prospero).
Prince Prospero is a very happy, healthy, and wealthy man.  Poe also writes that he is sagacious, or shrewd.  Prospero has a love for all things strange and exciting, proven by the odd and grotesque costumes his followers don for his masquerade.  He is also afraid of dying from the Red Death and tries to prevent from contracting the illness by shutting himself off from society.  However, he dislikes being lonely and without entertainment, so he brings a thousand followers with him.

2.)    Why does Prince Prospero voluntarily isolate himself?

He voluntarily isolates himself because he doesn’t want to die from the Red Death.  He also thinks that his isolation will be fun and exciting because of his parties and masquerades.

3.)    Who does Prince Prospero invite to his great fete?

Prospero takes a thousand of his followers, knights and dames, from his court.

4.)    Describe Prince Prospero’s great fete and the physical description of each of the seven apartments (chambers).
Prospero’s party is a masquerade in which all of his attendees dress up in bizarre and glittery splendor to imitate intangible beings.  Each chamber is a different color.  The first chamber is decorate in blue and has blue stained glass windows, the second purple, the third green, the fourth orange, the fifth white, and the sixth violet.  The seventh apartment has black decorations but a scarlet window.  The first room (blue) is also the eastern-most chamber, and the others progress west to the seventh apartment (black).

5.)    Who is the villain and how does he represent the “repressed emotions” of Prince Prospero?
The villain is the Red Death.  Like the other attendees of Prospero’s masquerade, he dresses up in a grotesque costume.  However, he comes as the fear of death.  Prospero knows that the party can only be successful if everyone forgets about the Red Death while dancing and celebrating, so when the Red Death actually comes and proves this fact to all of the partygoers, Prospero’s demise is certain.

Maria, General of the Androids, an Ultimate Decepticon

The Masque of the Red Death-Week of September 13th

Ok... so this week we have been reading Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death. Below are a few questions that one should read and create an analysis pertaining to the text. Ponder about this....

1. Describe the internal and external workings of the Protagonist (Prince Prospero).

2. Why does Prince Prospero voluntarily isolate himself?

3. Who does Prince Prospero invite to his great fete?

4. Describe Prince Prospero's great fete and the physical description of each of the seven apartments (chambers).
5. Who is the villian and how does he represent the "repressed emotions" of Prince Prospero?

Analysis to these questions will be posted shortly.... so, just wait for a bit! In the meantime, read Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death-It is an intense short story that will keep one wanting for more. What a great read!

The ultimate decepticons,
Allison, Maria, and Rachel