Comparison

Essay: Compare and contrast the two texts – The Tell-Tale Heart and La Belle Dame Sans Merci ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ written by Edgar Allan Poe and ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ written by John Keats are two significant texts published in the 19th century. Through the study of both texts, various similarities and contrasts are perceived by the responder ranging from the genre to the setting of each text and the analytical understanding of the characters, themes and storyline. There are various similarities perceived between the two texts. The Tell-Tale Heart and La Belle Dame Sans Merci mutually belong to the same genre as they both consist of gothic fiction. In ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, it follows an anonymous narrator who contends his reason for murdering an old man with an ‘evil eye’. It is indicated in the text that the narrator ‘loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I have no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this!’ which prepared him to plot the murder which therefore indicates that the text correlates to be in the gothic genre as it consists of both love and horror. Similarly, ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ belongs to the gothic genre as it comprises of a main character ‘knight-at-arms’ whose tale begins as glorious romance which is a characteristic of the gothic genre. When the poem is interpreted in different ways it can be seen to raise various themes common in the gothic genre as La Belle Dame continued to bewitch the knight. This is indicated in the text ‘She look’d at me as she did love, And made sweet moan’. ‘For sideways would she lean, and sing a faery’s song’ in which the knight ‘nothing else saw all day long.’ ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ can be read as a metaphorical warning against the powers of human imagination which is another common gothic theme. Through the understanding of both the texts having the similarity of being considered in the gothic genre, it is revealed that the texts mutually comprise of magic. Magic is revealed in The ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ as it is the ‘evil-eye’ of the old man that indicates magic as the narrator states in the text that ‘Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees -- very gradually.’ Additionally, in ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, La Belle Dame is ‘a faery’s child’ who took the knight to her magical cave ‘elfin grot’ and she magically ‘lulled’ the knight asleep indicating this text is also comprises magic. ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, on the other hand, also have various contrasts. One of these contrasts is the text type. The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story comprised of many paragraphs written entirely in first person as it is a monologue. The story is set in within an old house, especially in the room where the old man sleeps. The narrator of the story hates the old mans eye as he considers it to be ‘evil’ which made his mind up to ‘take the life of the old man, and thus rid himself of the eye forever.’ La Belle Dame Sans Merci, on the other hand is a poem comprised of twelve stanzas written in first and second person about a knight who recounts the events that have happened. The poem is first set outside on a barren landscape ‘haggard’ and ‘woe-begone’. The knight recounts how he met a beautiful lady ‘whose eyes were wild’. The knight then sets her on his horse and the lady who appears to be ‘a faery’s child’ took the knight to her cave known as her ‘elfin grot’. The setting is therefore different to The Tell-Tale Heart it is set on a barren land and inside a cave rather than an old house in The Tell-Tale Heart. It is then also understood that in The Tell-Tale Heart, the protagonist dislikes the eye as he considers it to be ‘evil’, whereas the knight in the poem finds the lady’s eyes beautiful as he states that ‘her were wild’. Overall the similarities, contrasts and the analytical understanding of the characters in each text the themes of love, hate and desire are engaged towards the responder. Although the two texts belong to the same genre of gothic fiction and were written during the same time of the 19th century, one is a short story while the other is a poem. The protagonist in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ expresses guilt and hate towards another character in the story whereas ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ comprises a knight who expresses his love and desire towards another character but found himself lost and confused. The settings of each storyline are completely different as one is set in an old house whereas the other is in a cave but overall the texts mutually comprise of magic such as the ‘evil eye’ and the ‘faery’s child’ who the knight recounts the lady’s ‘eyes were wild’ with beauty. Therefore, through the comparison of The Tell-Tale Heart and La Belle Dame Sans Merci, similarities can be drawn out as well as the contrasts although they were written in the same century and mutually convey an analytical understanding.