The Eye Motif In The Tell Tale Heart And The Raven By...

On January 19, 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In spite of experiencing several tragedies throughout his life, Poe had a successful career by writing short anecdotes. Most of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories have been known for having recurring literary devices such as motifs.The motifs of the eye and heart are found in the story The Tell Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum. However, in the Tell Tale Heart and the Raven, the motif that is commonly used is the unnamed narrator. The reason for Poe using these motifs remains unknown at first glance but, once analyzing these motifs, one can identify their purpose. To begin, the eye motif is used in The Tell Tale Heart. The old man in the story, has cataract on his left†¦show more content†¦The plot of the story revolves around the motif of the eye and it also gives justification for the narrator to kill the old man. Similarly, in The Pit and the Pendulum, the eye motif is utilized as the driving force of the plot and affects the reader. The narrator of the story is captured by an inquisitorial group and is tortured. In the story, â€Å"I (the narrator) had scarcely stepped away from the bed of horror when the hellish machine stopped. I saw it being pulled up through the ceiling by some invisible force† (Poe 145). Once the narrator narrowly escapes from the brutal slaying, immediately, the pendulum stops moving. Starting and stopping the pendulum was done by inquisitors who serve as eyes for the cult leader. Again, the plot action of this story is dependent on the eye motif. When the narrator escapes from the binding, new problems arise for the narrator because the people who were watching him (the eyes) immediately executed their next backup plan. According to the text, after the pendulum stopped, â€Å"I (The narrator) shrank from the glowing metal to the center of the cell. I thought o f the fiery destruction that was near† (Poe 156). The narrator needs to escape from the constant back up methods of torture implemented by the tormentors. Back to back tortures caused by the inquisitors drive the story forward. In addition, this constant escape also affects the reader as well. The eye (inquisitors) is the reason for deployingShow MoreRelatedHumorous Humor Of Edgar Allan Poe s The Dark Hearted 1675 Words   |  7 PagesPoe: Lighthearted Humor in a Darkened Heart Edgar Allan Poe, the dark hearted author! When speaking of Poe, readers would most likely associate him as a dark and dreary author. His uses of vivid, shadowy imagery and themes of death and despair lurk within the minds of his audiences. Poe, however, subtly injects his works with humor that may not easily be spotted by the human eye. Why exactly would Poe inject humor into his horror stories, since they aren’t comedies? 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