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Similarities Between Hawthorne And Edgar Allan Poe

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In the eyes of both Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, humankind had a definite dark side. Although they didn’t share the exact same beliefs, they were very similar. While Hawthorne believed that all humans were sinners and the only good in anything came from god, Poe believed that everyone had two parts to them: a social self and a inner beast. Poe believed that people spent their lives doing good deeds to hide their inner beast. He saw all humans as evil creatures who could do no good, and had another personality that hid their true self. This is showcased in both The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart, where the Narrators in both commit a heinous crime and try to cover it up, but end up revealing the truth on their own. On the other …show more content…

In The Tell-Tale Heart the narrator speaks of an old man that he was actually quite fond of, but needed to kill simply because of his haunting pale blue eye. He insist he’s not insane, but it's quite obvious he is. Earlier it was mentioned how the eye is a popular symbol, and it has the same meaning in The Tell-Tale Heart that it does in The Black Cat. The old man’s eye can seemingly see right through the narrator's social character and straight into his inner beast, something everyone possesses. He spends an entire week sneaking into the old man’s apartment, just watching and waiting for the right moment to attack. After finally killing the old man, he hides him in in the floorboards of the home. The police arrive after a call from an alarmed neighbor, and all is going well until the narrator believes he hears a heartbeat. The heartbeat symbolizes the conscious, seeing as neither the police officers can hear it.”Louder! Louder! Louder! It is the beating of his hideous heart!” It’s as if the narrator's conscious is driving him out of his mind. It really shows Poe’s believes in duality and how every human is an evil being plagued with a conscious. No matter how hard one can try to bury their wrong doings, the conscious will always reveal the beast’s wrongdoings.”Villains! I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here! Here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!” His …show more content…

All humans are evil, whether it be by their inner beast or original sin, they are both no good. Poe saw all humans as outright monstrous, evil creatures plagued with a conscious that would always reveal the truth. On the other hand, Hawthorne saw all humans as equally evil, with pride as the underlying sin. Either way, both saw and wrote about the darker side of humanity, and the conscious always came out in the

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