Summary Of Tell-Tale Heart: Mr. Smith The Calculating Murderer

“Tell-Tale Heart”:Mr. Smith the Calculating Murderer

Mr. Johnson was murdered in his own home and the killer admitted to it, so we will not be trying to find the killer, but determine if the killer was, in fact, sane at the time of the crime or if he was insane. The man in question today is Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith is a housekeeper for Mr. Johnson, the man he killed, and Mr. Smith mentions things about Mr. Johnson “He had never wronged me,” and “I loved the old man,” and he still killed him. He claims that it was Mr. Johnson’s” vulture eye” on page 56 and he claims that the deadman’s heart was beating, but nothing else describes him as insane, but rather a cold calculating murderer that had guilt over his actions. In all he is able to manage his own affairs, planned the murder, and he knew right from wrong in the end.

First, is that Mr. Smith could manage his own affairs. We can infer that Mr. Smith was able to take care of

Smith planned the crime and executed it precisely. First off, Mr. Smith says “The whole week before I killed him.”(56). Which means that he planned how he was going to kill Mr. Johnson for a whole week and in most cases an insane person will be impulsive and will lash out, but Mr. Smith was cautious and precise. Next, Mr. Smith says “ Every night, just at midnight.(56) and this means that he always crept into Mr. Johnson’s room at the same time every night. This adds to the evidence of his planning with no impulsiveness. Then, Mr. Smith said, “I was more than usually cautious.(56)”. That is the icing on the cake because he is cautious and he explains he was at the time of the murder and the “whole week” before Mr. Smith killed Mr. Johnson.(56). All of the evidence proves that unlike an insane person that would just lash out in impulsiveness, our Mr. Smith planned out his kill perfectly before he even attempted to kill Mr. Johnson. Mr. Smith knew what he was doing and he planned it out, but even more is that he knows that it was