Final answer:
In Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart', words such as 'treasures', 'secure', 'enthusiasm', and 'wild audacity' set a tone of overconfident triumph, while others suggest an underlying grim reality. The overall diction indicates a darkly triumphant and macabre tone, achieved through word choice.
Step-by-step explanation:
The passage from Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart contains several words that help reveal the tone when reading the passage aloud. Words such as 'treasures', 'secure', and 'undisturbed' suggest a sense of pride and calm.
However, the tone shifts with the use of words like 'enthusiasm', 'confidence', 'wild audacity', and 'perfect triumph'. These words indicate an ominous and overconfident tone, underlying the narrator's attempt to project control and sanity over a grim reality.
When considering the author's word choice, the tone can be described as darkly triumphant and macabre. The narrator is attempting to display a sense of victory and assurance to the others in the room but beneath the surface, there lies a morbid truth. This mix of pride and the underlying guilt or horror contributes to the story's chilling effect.
To fully grasp the tone, one should always read a piece of writing out loud, noting the words that carry strong connotations and the overall diction used to convey the tone. Authors like Poe often use specific word choices to set a tone that can range from informal to formal, sarcastic to playful.
Recognition of these word choices helps understand the mood and attitude of the narrator which, in this case, is one of forced calmness layered over an underlying sense of dread and guilt.