Within a story, there is usually an obstacle that the main character must overcome with perseverance. Between the characters of the guard in George Orwell's “A Hanging” and the servant in Edgar Allen Poe's “A Tell-Tale Heart,” both experience the act of taking another person's life. The guard in “A Hanging” works in a Burmese prison where criminals await execution. His job is to lead the condemned to their doom and make sure that everything goes smoothly and quickly. While the servant in "A Tell-Tale Heart" is a psychopathic man who lets his obsession with his boss' glassy eye lead him to plot and carry out his death. In both stories, the protagonists reach a time when they need to take part in organized killings, however, their different outlooks on life and responses to the deaths set them apart. Consequently, although the prison guard and the servant both played key roles in the victims' executions, they both have different perspectives and reactions towards their actions. When it comes to the obstacle that the prison guard and the servant face, both are in the position to end the lives of their victims on predetermined dates. The guard to begin with works in a prison where "the cells were about 10 feet in size and were quite bare inside except for a bed of boards and a pot for drinking water" (Orwell 32) and "silent brown men" (Orwell 32) within them. The guard states that they “were the condemned, who were to be hanged within the next week or two” (Orwell 32). Once the prisoner is introduced, the clock strikes eight and the military doctor states: “For the love of God, hurry up, Francis,” he says irritably. “The man should have been dead by now. Aren't you ready yet?" (Orwell 32). This shows that there... in the middle of the paper... there was a sense of relief that came over him when his duty was fulfilled, while the servant had a rush of excitement, followed by anxiety and nervousness on the part of the old man's heartbeat and fear of being exposed. Undoubtedly the guard and the servant see and experience things differently even though they are both faced with the obstacle of ending it. to a life. Both take part in the organized murders and are vital parts to the victims' deaths on the other hand, the guard sees the value of life while the servant could not care less, and the guard feels relieved after the. death as the servant experiences a shift in emotions from trust to nervousness and anxiety. Without a doubt, both protagonists are instrumental in determining the fate of the characters they kill, but they in turn equally have different points of view and responses towards the characters. their actions..