Fall from University Grace

Guilt Overshadows Achievements

       The shocking short story "The Tell Tale Heart" written by "Edgar Allan Poe” follows the thoughts of a mad man. How he strives to kill his elderly companion as his thoughts haunt him. This short story is an oxymoron as he loves the old man, but hates one of his features. He loathes the old man's "evil eye". The old mans eye has never done any harm to the mad men, and yet hatred over powered love.


     In the film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" directed by "Mike Newell" introduces a character named "Barty Crouch Jr.", who is also characterized as a mad man. Throughout the film, Barty Crouch Jr. disguises himself as a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and befriends Harry Potter, who entrusts him with his life. Crouch Jr. commits a variety of crimes, which through his eyes are considered "accomplishments". He eventually accomplishes his ultimate goal, which is murdering his own father. In both of these stories, it is shown that hatred truly does overpower love. 


    

In the short story, "The Tell Tale Heart", the mad man murders his elderly companion, who is like a father to him. He buried the old man under the floorboards in his bedroom.  After the deed was accomplished, the mad man felt a rush of gratitude. Towards the end of the story, the guilt was building up, to such an extent that the mad man thought he was hearing the old mans heart, when in reality, it was his own heart hammering inside his chest."… I admit the deed! - Tear up the planks! Here, here- it is the beating of his hideous heart!"  This passage from the short story shows that the pressure from guilt caused the mad man to reveal his crimes to the public. 


    

In the film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", Barty Crouch Jr. murders his own father. He attempts to live with all the guilt for committing such a vile crime, but figures out that he cannot. While he tries to aid Harry Potter with his problems, he finds that he cannot live with all the guilt pressuring his mind. Eventually, he also ends up admitting to all his crimes unconsciously and then is forced to tell the entire truth with the veritaserum potion, which is a powerful truth-telling potion. 


  

 This short story of the psychotic man parallels that of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as the character Barty Crouch Jr. depicts vengeful deception. More precisely, both of these stories share the same theme, which is guilt that overshadows their misleading achievements. In both these stories, the main characters have committed a heinous crime that results in their psychotic pleasure and satisfaction. However over a period of time, their guilty physique builds up to such an extent that the characters cannot withstand their guilt, and as a result, they unconsciously reveal all the crimes they have committed. So, their inner guilt overshadows their outer achievements. 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

dietcokeandmentos. www.youtube.com. November 2006 . Accessed on March 11, 

The purpose of this Thematic blog

 I am responsible for creating and maintaining an independent blog, for each of the four units of study i will be required to add a post to my blog. The purpose of this blog is analyze the different types of media with each of the study units. The types of media text includes film/youtube clip, image (phtograph, painting), news/magazine article, poem/lyrics.
                                                                                                           
Image retrieved from countryboy1949