Please help me find what the irony in the story is and want foreshadowing takes place?? Please!!

-- Anonymous, November 08, 2001

Answers

The irony you probably want is right from the title. It is the madman's own rushing heartbeats fueled by guilt and excitement that he mistakes for his inability to silence his victim of obsession.

Forehsadowing. In many stories like this one the narrator explains his state of mind, philosophy, etc, that sets the stage for a plot entirely due to a crazed interpretation of reality and a strong rreaction to it. Nervousness opposed to insane claims of absolute calm show this individual constantly wavering between two absolute states that he can only resolve by obsessive, violent action. His self-defeating fear is fairly deterministic and the death of the old man just a matter of time. It is easy to complete the loop of the narration by imagining this being told from the cell of a sanitorium. This is "The Imp of the Perverse" without the narrator being aware of the self-destructive truth.

Actually, there is much more to this seemingly simple story worth exploring. This is just for starters.

-- Anonymous, November 08, 2001