The Tell-Tale Heart | The Twin and the Doppelganger
In the following essay, John Chua examines the role of the twin and the doppelganger in ‘‘The Tell-Tale Heart.’’
A salient feature in many of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories is the concept of a nemesis appearing as a doppelganger. A doppelganger is a double—an apparitional twin or counterpart to another living person. In Poe’s stories involving a doppelganger, the protagonist identifies closely with the antagonist and vice versa. The double appears in such stories as ‘‘The Purloined Letter,’’ ‘‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’’ and ‘‘The Tell-Tale Heart.’’ The idea of the protagonist fighting a counterpart occurs so often in Poe’s works...
[The entire page is 1632 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
Tell a friend about The Tell-Tale Heart at eNotes.
