The Canterville Ghost, by Oscar Wilde and The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe are two short stories that use multiple techniques, such as narration, imagery and characterisation, to position their readers to understand the ghosts as victims. Edgar Allan Poe, positions the readers of The Tell Tale Heart to imagine the ghost to be an innocent, kind old man who is about to have his life taken. In The Canterville Ghost, Oscar Wilde positions the reader to feel sympathy for the ghost due to him being trapped in a house with the disrespectful American family.
Through the use of characterisation both Poe and Wilde position their readers to view the ghosts as victims by studying how the characters they are around interact with them. The old man …show more content…
Poe constructed the story to be written in the point of view of an unreliable narrator who is displayed as mad man, this can be seen when he is describing the ways in which he dismembered and hid the old man’s dead body by proudly stating “if you still think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe to you the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body… first I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.” (Pg. 95) The narrator claims that he is not "mad" but his behavior allows the audience to see differently as he is determined to kill a man out of fear of his “evil, vulture eye.” Poe’s decision to use an unreliable narrator positions the reader to see the ghost as a victim due to the terrible things the mad man did before and after murdering him. Both stories use a third person limited narrator, this allows Wilde to position the reader to sympathise with the ghost because of the continuous torment they put him through and the various attacks and tricks they put him through. “He now gave up all hope of ever frightening this rude American family and, as he was very afraid of the twins, from now on he crept around the house as quietly as possible.” (Chapter 4) By only expressing the feelings and thoughts of the ghost, Wilde positions the reader to see the ghost as a victim of the American …show more content…
In The Tell Tale Heart, Poe uses descriptive language when describing the old mans terror before his death, this makes the reader feel sorry for the old man when he “sprang up in bed, crying out – ‘who’s there?’ – I heard a slight groan.. It was the groan of mortal terror… The old man’s terror must have been extreme… he shrieked once – once only…” (Pg. 93-94) Through the use of descriptive language Poe is able to portray to the audience the fear of the old man making the audience sympathise for him being a victim. Both authors use descriptive language to display the feelings of the ghosts when something bad has happened to them. Wilde uses descriptive language to display the feelings of the ghost when the American family upset him, which allows the reader to identify the ghosts as a victim especially when “the twins started shooting peas at him with their pea-shooters, the ghost stood up with an angry growl and passed through them like a mist. For five days, the ghost did not leave his room. He was very weak and tired and his nerves were completely shattered.” (Chapter 4-5) By using descriptive language, Wilde is able to provide the reader with a further insight into how the ghost feels and the thoughts behind his actions, which allows the reader to
Through the use of characterisation both Poe and Wilde position their readers to view the ghosts as victims by studying how the characters they are around interact with them. The old man …show more content…
Poe constructed the story to be written in the point of view of an unreliable narrator who is displayed as mad man, this can be seen when he is describing the ways in which he dismembered and hid the old man’s dead body by proudly stating “if you still think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe to you the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body… first I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.” (Pg. 95) The narrator claims that he is not "mad" but his behavior allows the audience to see differently as he is determined to kill a man out of fear of his “evil, vulture eye.” Poe’s decision to use an unreliable narrator positions the reader to see the ghost as a victim due to the terrible things the mad man did before and after murdering him. Both stories use a third person limited narrator, this allows Wilde to position the reader to sympathise with the ghost because of the continuous torment they put him through and the various attacks and tricks they put him through. “He now gave up all hope of ever frightening this rude American family and, as he was very afraid of the twins, from now on he crept around the house as quietly as possible.” (Chapter 4) By only expressing the feelings and thoughts of the ghost, Wilde positions the reader to see the ghost as a victim of the American …show more content…
In The Tell Tale Heart, Poe uses descriptive language when describing the old mans terror before his death, this makes the reader feel sorry for the old man when he “sprang up in bed, crying out – ‘who’s there?’ – I heard a slight groan.. It was the groan of mortal terror… The old man’s terror must have been extreme… he shrieked once – once only…” (Pg. 93-94) Through the use of descriptive language Poe is able to portray to the audience the fear of the old man making the audience sympathise for him being a victim. Both authors use descriptive language to display the feelings of the ghosts when something bad has happened to them. Wilde uses descriptive language to display the feelings of the ghost when the American family upset him, which allows the reader to identify the ghosts as a victim especially when “the twins started shooting peas at him with their pea-shooters, the ghost stood up with an angry growl and passed through them like a mist. For five days, the ghost did not leave his room. He was very weak and tired and his nerves were completely shattered.” (Chapter 4-5) By using descriptive language, Wilde is able to provide the reader with a further insight into how the ghost feels and the thoughts behind his actions, which allows the reader to