Tale Of An Hour And The Tell Tale Heart Comparison Essay

In the short stories, “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Story of an Hour,” the authors focus on the discomfort and dissatisfaction of the protagonists and how each of them are released of a specific burden through the death of another individual.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart,” the narrator of the story has a great desire to take the life of the old man he lives with simply because of his hatred toward the old man’s eye. Toward the beginning of the story, the narrator tells the reader that he was actually quite fond of the old man and that is was only his “vulture eye” that made him want to kill him. Every night, the man would stand in the doorway to the old man’s room with a light to shine across his eye. The narrator says, “For

However, although the protagonists in both stories feel this sense of freedom, the way this comes about for each of them is very different. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” The narrator’s actions are determined by his hatred and desire to kill the old man. Rather than wait for the man to die of natural causes, he takes it upon himself to kill him so he will no longer have to see his eye. This fact is trivial to the story because the reader is able to see the narrator’s hatred and anger which ultimately leads up to the old man’s murder. In addition, this gives the overall story a dark tone as the narrator plots to carry out the murder. This differs from the actions of Mrs. Mallard because she is only freed of the burden of marriage when her husband dies in an accident. In fact, she had not even realized that she felt held back by of her marriage until after her husband passed away. This is an important factor to the storyline because the reader is able to witness Mrs. Mallard realizing how unhappy she was when her husband was alive, and how elated she is knowing that she can now live her life on her