Read this excerpt from "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe.

True! nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

How does the situational irony of this excerpt affect "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

> The narrator's mention of his calm and health only serve to highlight the serious injuries he's suffered.

>The narrator's focus on his strong sense of hearing only serves to remind readers that he will not listen to the truth.

>The narrator's firm insistence that he is innocent of the old man's murder only serves to convince readers that he is guilty.

>The narrator's frantic insistence that he is sane only helps to convince readers that he is not.