ipl-logo

Guilt In The Tell Tale Heart

840 Words4 Pages

The feeling of guilt, is like the pressure of Earth resting on the Titan Atlas’s back. The pain and suffering is unbearable as well as wanting to let go of the feeling. Two pieces of literature that show the thematic topic of guilt are in the story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe,which is about the narrator who murders an old man living in his residence. When the police came to inspect the narrator’s house due to someone reporting a scream, he tried to confidently to say that nothing was wrong and there was no trouble. Alas, the narrator’s guilty conscious got the best of him as he imagined the the old man’s heartbeat haunting him, leading to him insanely revealing his killing to the police. The poem, “I Can Stand Him No Longer” …show more content…

We also learn that from how similarly how insane one’s mind can get through guilt we also see how differently both the thematic topic of guilt, were guilt usually reveals its secrets can be represented. Through, “The Tell Tale Heart” We see the narrator describe his conditions as stable and refuses to believe in his problems. As it states in Poe’s story, “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.” To put simply, the main character through using hyperbole to show that his senses have increased sharply. we see that through denial of his guilt we see that his refusal to accept his problems result him into ultimately revealing his plans. While one story adresses the thematic topic of guilt, in “I Can Stand Him No Longer” Poe Writes, “How could it be that they did not know,How the fires of hate made me glow?Through my guilt, my secret would not remain concealed,A heavy conscience will always make what’s hidden revealed.”Through rhyme scheme, it differs from the first one showing that the narrator knew himself to be mad but rather revealed himself thinking that people already knew. Resulting in him exposing himself. Through different ways of revealing secrets fueled by guilt, we see how much of a devastating impact it can have on you and the people around

Show More
Related

  • I Can Stand Him No Longer Analysis

    849 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The feeling of guilt is your conscience calling your attention to the higher road, and your heart wishing you had taken it.” The poem “I Can Stand Him no Longer” by Raphael Dumas and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe are pieces of literature that develop the thematic topic of guilt using literary devices such as metaphors, connotations, similes and etc. Both stories are about a person who commits a deed that he is later guilty of doing. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, a man commits a murder of an old neighbor and tries to hide the crime. However, he later finds himself guilty of doing so and accepts his crime in front of the police.

    Read More

  • The Tell Tale Heart Insanity

    1353 Words  | 6 Pages

    At a glance, "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe is a story of insanity vs. sanity. Poe conveys this theme through his use of symbolism and imagery, the interactions that occur between characters, and word choice. Throughout the story, the main character continues to tell himself that he is not "mad." However, after completing a full analysis of the short story, I found that the most prominent theme in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is guilt: "a feeling of deserving blame for offenses" (Merriam-Webster). This theme is significant to today's modern world, for many people feel guilty for offenses they have committed and have a hard time convincing themselves of what they have done.

    Read More

  • The Guilt Of Murder In Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell Tale Heart

    745 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe the narrator is guilty of murder because the narrator thinks the old man could never suspect that his caregiver would ever try to kill him, he claims he can recite the story calmly and healthily as he remembers every detail unlike an insane person , and he admits to killing the old man so he is aware he has committed murder. It is important to realize that the narrator is too presumptuous because the old man would never think his caregiver would try to kill him when he expresses this statement “So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that at every night, Just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.’’ ( Poe 7).

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Techniques In The Tell Tale Heart

    434 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Edgar Allan Poe as the narrator of the The Tell-Tale Heart has the reader believe that he was indeed sane, his thoughts and actions throughout the story would prove otherwise. As the short story unfolds, we see the narrator as a man divided between his love for the old man and his obsession with the old man’s eye. The eye repeatedly becomes the narrator’s pretext for his actions, and while his delusional state caused him much aggravation, he also revealed signs of a conscience. In the first paragraph of the short story, The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe establishes an important tone that carries throughout his whole story, which is ironic.

    Read More

  • Interprettive Essay: The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    728 Words  | 3 Pages

    “ The Tell-Tale Heart” Interpretive Essay Is the complex character created by Edgar Allan Poe a calculated killer or a delusional madman. In the short story “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character has a mental condition which causes him to kill a neighbor. He believes that his neighbor has a “vulture eye” which is the reason why he killed him. Night after night, he watches the man and plans how to kill him. Then one night, he puts his plan into action.

    Read More

  • Indirect Characterization In The Tell Tale Heart

    559 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is a key point in understanding the narrator’s character and the overall meaning of the

    Read More

  • Examples Of Paranoia In The Tell Tale Heart

    1164 Words  | 5 Pages

    Obsession, internal conflict, and underlying guilt are all aspects of being human but when it’s associated with paranoia and insanity it may be just the recipe for the perfect crime as perceived by Edger Allan Poe in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe uses this as one of his shortest stories to discuss and provide an insight into the mind of the mentally ill, paranoia and the stages of mental detrition. The story 's action is depicted through the eyes of the unnamed delusional narrator. The other main character in the story is an old man whom the narrator apparently works for and resides in his house. The story opens off with the narrator trying to assure his sanity then proceeding to tell the tale of his crime, this shows a man deranged and hunted with a guilty conscience of his murderous act.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Obsession In The Tell Tale Heart

    983 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is through the power of obsession, guilt and paranoia in which, Edgar Allan Poe reveals how far people would go to hurt others. Obsession acts as a strong motive for crime. Edgar Allan Poe portrays obsession in “The Tell Tale Heart” through the narrator as he expresses his thoughts leading up to the murder. After the narrator argues his case to why he is not mad, he begins his story with an “idea” which “entered his brain,” which is the start of an obsession that “haunted him day and night” (2.1-2). The narrator speaks as if the eye of the old man is latching itself onto the him.

    Read More

  • The Murderer In The Tell Tale Heart

    186 Words  | 1 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe develops the character of the murderer in "The Tell Tale Heart" through what he says and what readers can infer about him. Poe used what the murderer said to develop the man’s character trait of being meticulous. He shows this when the murder sneaks on the old man at night during the night and describes his experience, " It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed" (page 3). This supports the character 's trait of being meticulous because it shows the murderer being precautious and taking his time as he creepily sneaks on the old man. Another trait that was developed by what the murderer said was the murderer’s insecurity.

    Read More

  • Direct Characterization In The Tell Tale Heart

    960 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this excerpt “from The Tell-tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe creates the supercilious character of an unnamed narrator through indirect characterization. Using the components of character motivation, internal thoughts, and actions, Poe portrays a story about deception and reveals the feelings of superiority, and ultimately guilt, that is invoked by the pretense of innocence. The narrator’s motivations can be identified through his internal thoughts and his actions. For example, both components are recognized when the narrator says “while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.”

    Read More

  • Human Nature In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    591 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator decided to murder a man, then cut up the body and hide the dead corpse under the floor, and was very proud as he told the police to search well, but then heard “A LOW, DULL, QUICK SOUND” where the body was, causing him to admit the deed (Poe 3). Since the narrator cut up the body, there was no way the heart was still beating, which meant that the narrator was eaten up by his own guilt. A lot of people get eaten up by their own guilt and end up telling the truth which gets them into even more trouble. Edgar Allen Poe used this story to tell readers to think before they act, because once an action is taken, it usually can’t be taken back. Comparatively, in “Ambush” The protagonist Roger suggests to Officer Sullivan “[m]abye Joey Bacon?”

    Read More

  • Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart

    1109 Words  | 5 Pages

    There are times in life where people do commit a small mistake, or a huge crime, but what really matters is if one will listen to their conscience. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character lives with an old man who has an eye that “resembled that of a vulture--a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” The story revolves around the main character’s obsession over the eye, and how he got rid of it-- by murdering the old man. Towards the end of the story, the young man confesses to the police about his insane stunt after they searched his house. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe focused on having the reader know more than the secondary character, using description, and using a first-person narrator, to build suspense.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Tales Of The Criminal Insanity Analysis

    1395 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Tell-Tale Heart written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1843 is about a man who claims he is not insane but only nervous. In turn, he tells a story to defend his sanity, in which he confesses to have killed an old man. He claims that his ambition was neither passion nor greed for money, but actually uneasiness of the old man’s pale blue eyes. He continues to insist that he isn’t mad because of his calm and collected actions. Even though he is a murderer, he claims that his composed actions aren’t ones of a psychopath.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Guilt In A Tell Tale Heart

    937 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a wise man once said, “Hatred can last for a year while guilt can last for an eternity.” In A Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe, the author describes a person's carefully organized plan to get rid of an old man’s eye, but soon realizes that his plan is ruined and guilt is brought into his life. In “I Can Stand Him No Longer” by Raphael Dumas, the poem explains a man’s secret distaste for another, that when publicly announced is turned to embarrassment and shame. Both the poem and the short story focus on the idea of guilt, and they both send the message that hate leads to one revealing their actions and secrets. The authors of the two stories develop this idea of guilt in a very similar way of syntax and conflict.

    Read More

  • The Tell Tale Heart Guilt Essay

    1815 Words  | 8 Pages

    As a result the narrator’s attempts of trying to keep these feelings of guilt and remorse hidden began impacting him in ways he couldn't imagine. While trying to keep his fake persona in check he also had to maintain what was going on inside him to prevent his secret from spilling. This trauma and mentally difficult challenge is further explored when the narrator speaks “I talked even louder. And still the men sat and talked, and smiled.”. The narrator was able to deceive the police officers previously with his fake personality, which was now being jeopardized as this odd feeling inside him began creeping out.

    Read More

More about Guilt In The Tell Tale Heart

Open Document