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Literary analysis essay:
Compare the character analysis of The Tell Tale Heart and The Yellow Wallpaper

User Zombat
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Final answer:

The essay question requires a comparison between the character analysis in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Yellow Wallpaper,' focusing on the themes of mental instability and unreliable narration.

Step-by-step explanation:

The literary analysis essay question asks for a comparison of character analysis between 'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe and 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Both are short stories that explore themes of mental instability and unreliable narration.

In 'The Tell-Tale Heart', the narrator insists on their sanity while describing the meticulous murder of an old man. The narrator's obsession with the old man's eye and the eventual confession to the murder demonstrate a deep psychological conflict and an unreliable character.

'The Yellow Wallpaper', on the other hand, presents a female protagonist who is confined by her husband for her mental health. As the story progresses, the woman becomes increasingly fixated on the wallpaper in her room, which reflects her deteriorating mental state and the oppressive forces acting upon her.

Comparing these characters reveals insights into how mental illness is depicted and the roles of power dynamics in their respective stories. The characters' descent into madness is portrayed through their obsessions—an old man's eye and a room's wallpaper—highlighting the authors' critique of societal views on mental health.

User Old McStopher
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Answer:

The Yellow Wallpaper" and "The Tell-Tale Heart"have many similarities and differences. Both stories are known to be similar in many ways,but the one that stands out is the similarity of both characters being obsessed with a particular object. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator is obsessed with the yellow wallpaper,on the other hand the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator was obsessed of the old man’s vulture eye. Another example why they are both similar is both stories share the same setting which is that they both take place in a colonial mansion. Enough of the similarities time for some differences. A difference between the stories is that both of the narrator's’ tone is different. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator’s tone is arrogant and excited. A example when the narrator is excited, “ Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly—very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep”(Tell-Tale Heart). In the “Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator’s tone is depressed but later in the story the narrator’s tone changes to insanity as the story progresses. Another difference is that one story kills a loved one but the other doesn’t. The story that kills the loved one is “The Tell-Tale Heart”, It states how the narrator kills the old man “I rushed into the room, crying, “Die! Die!” The old man gave a loud cry of fear as I fell upon him and held the bed covers tightly over his head”(The Tell-Tale Heart). But the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” the loved one John is unknown if he died but in the story it says that he just fainted. There was some similarities and differences between these stories.

User Honza Javorek
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