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According to Naidoo Mervyn, author of “80% of Victims Know Their Killers” IOL November 16, 2014. 80% of murders are committed by someone that the victim knows personally. In the gothic writings, “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” a “sane” man kills his elderly housemate because his eye scared him. In another work by Poe, “The Raven,” a man driven to insanity by grief opens his door at midnight hoping to see his lost love, but instead finds the Raven in his home. In addition to being brilliant works of literature, both these stories include allusion, diction, and irony that add a new level of depth to the writing.
In Poe’s stories, “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” he utilizes irony, or the contrast between expectations and reality, to create an eerie mood. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe presents the story through an untrustworthy narrator. The narrator claims that he can prove his sanity by saying, “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?” (Poe 353). Humans cannot hear things in heaven or hell, so, ironically, the narrator attempts to prove his rationality in this manner, while inadvertently proving his insanity. Furthermore, in “The Raven,” the speaker opens the door hoping for light and company, but instead opens “wide the door; —.” But only finds “Darkness there and nothing more. / Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; / And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, ‘Lenore?’ / This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, ‘Lenore!’” (Poe 24-30). Contrary to the speaker’s expectation of finding companionship or his lost lover, Lenore, he finds the Raven, representative of darkness, inside his home, “Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, / In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore; / Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door — / Perched, and sat, and nothing more.” (Poe 36-42). The Raven, an agent of grief, perches atop a bust of the goddess of wisdom, Pallas, or Pallas Athena, demonstrating that grief clouds wisdom. Irony is a large part of Poe’s writing and showcases the gothic nature of his works, in addition to emphasizing the sinister tone of the stories. In the stories, “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe uses irony to form a sinister mood in his writing.
Poe’s use of diction, or words chosen specifically by the author to invoke the desired mood, are prevalent in the stories, “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” In “The Raven,” Poe chooses to use the word “nevermore” in place of the word no (Poe #). He also presents a parallel episode in the form of, “Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’” (Poe 48). In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe chooses to describe the old man’s eye as “the eye of a vulture —a pale blue eye, with a film over it” (Poe 1). Poe implies that the old man’s eye is creepy. He makes use of uncommon words to further enhance the eerie mood. Poe chooses his words carefully to convey specific emotions.
The use of allusion, or references to the outside world, in Poe’s stories “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” connects the stories to the real world, which makes them creepier because it insinuates that these stories have happened, or will happen. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator enters his roommate’s room intending to murder him. He shines the lantern into the room and “ directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot” (Poe 1). The phrase “damned spot” is a nod to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The narrator is similarly insane to Lady Macbeth as they both experience hallucinations based on their guilt. In the story “The Raven” the speaker says, “Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, / In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore; / But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door— Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door” (20-27). Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom. Pallas was a nymph that Athena accidentally killed because her father, Zeus, saw her mock fighting and thought that it was real so he used the head of Medusa to petrify Pallas, who didn’t move when Athena stabbed her. Athena was horrified. She went on to build a life-like statue of her friend. Furthermore, she adopted the name Pallas into her identity and became Pallas Athena. Poe’s use of allusion connects his stories to the real world.
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