Question

Read the excerpt from "The Tell-Tale Heart.”

TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? 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.

Read the excerpt from "The Black Cat.”

For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not—and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul.

Which statement best compares these two excerpts?

Both narrators appear to be completely rational, which makes them both reliable narrators.
Both narrators admit to suffering from madness, which makes them both unreliable narrators.
Both narrators admit to having enhanced senses, which makes them both reliable narrators.
Both narrators appear to be irrational, which makes them both unreliable narrators.

Answer 1

The statement that best compares the two excerpts is "Both narrators appear to be irrational, which makes them both unreliable narrators".

The narrators of the two short stories written by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat", deny being mad. The narrator of the first story tries to convince the reader that his senses have only been sharpened and that he is calm, even though he is not. Moreover, the narrator of "The Black Cat" also intends to present himself as a sane person, but the words he uses give him away. In that way, neither of the two narrators are trustworthy.