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

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“ 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. He kills the man by slamming a bed over him, then he severs his body and hides him under the floor. Later that night, police come to investigate, but they don’t suspect him. He confidently invites the police man to talk in his house. He is overcome with guilt and ends up …show more content…

The author writes, “The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them.” (Poe, 1843) This text describes that the killer has a mental disorder. Poe also writes, “‘Villains!’ I shrieked, “dissemble no more” I admit the deed! - tear up the planks - here, here! - it is the beating of the hideous heart.’” This shows that the man believed that he was hearing the beating heart of an already dead man. Since, this is obviously not true, this proves that the murderer does indeed have mental disease. This would be a very vital piece of information if this case were to go to trial. The fact that this man has a mental disease would save him from being eligible from the death penalty. This is because the 8th amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Giving someone who has mental disease the death penalty would be seen as a cruel and unusual punishment. Some may argue that even though the killer did murder the man, he did not show any empathy for what he did. This can be proven otherwise because of the fact that someone under the influence of mental disease may not always be able to control their actions. In similar cases such as the Walton vs. Virginia, and Eley vs. Ohio, the same practice was used. Therefore, the murderer cannot be sentenced

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Insanity Your Honor and Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury the caretaker in Edgar Allan Poe’s”The Tell-Tale Heart” is Insane; using the McNaughton rule proves that he should be placed in a state hospital for the criminally insane, He did not know what he was doing, He did not know that what he was doing was wrong. The caretaker is insane because the sounds he hears that causes him to go insane.

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The Sins Within “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathanial Hawthorne “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, cost you more than you want to pay,” by unknown. The life of sins are revealed in both “The Tell- Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe and in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”. Beginning with “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Poe there is this man watching over an old man that he loves dearly, but cannot seem to do right by. Everyday he would stare into this old man’s pale blue eye with the thought that he was haunting him.

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First-Degree Murder is the most serious crime that can be committed, punishable by the death penalty. Once someone commits this crime, they are forever known as a dangerous and terrible person. The decision to murder someone is usually conscious, but in some occasions the suspect can plead innocent for reasons of temporary insanity. In the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, a man decided to murder his neighbor because he was scared of the neighbor’s eye. When the police came to interrogate him, the man heard a heartbeat in his head.

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Edgar Allan Poe, an eerie author, was always writing dark stories and poems, which was unusual for the time period he wrote in. During his writing career he wrote many stories that were closely related to his life, especially tragic love stories. When many of his girlfriends and family died, he went mad, drank a lot and eventually died. After reading Poe’s stories that include topics like people in love who pass, dying from tuberculosis and being caught between rationality and irrationality, it is evident that he drew from his own life as inspiration. Poe was constantly devastated by his significant other dying and this happens in lots of his stories and poems too. For example, in The Bridal Ballad, it says “ And My Lord he loves me well.”

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And now a new anxiety seized me -- the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man’s hour had come! Here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!”. Due to the narrators anxiety it made her commit the crime and while it has been established that she is mentally ill, in this state it only incites her anxiety and pushed her to commit this crime.

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With all we know about Poe and his many works, we 're hit with suspense and anticipation by the first part of the story. Later in the tale, the narrator slows down and reveals his preparations that lead to the murder in such a deliberately enticing and suspenseful way, that even though you knew what was going to happen, it was still intense and suspenseful to read. These moods were further carried on by the way the narrator

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Not only did this killer kill the old man, he was cruel and cold at heart. This can be seen in this quote, “I heard a slight groan… it was the groan of mortal terror… dreadful echo, the terrors… I knew what the old man felt… I chuckled at heart.” (Poe, 1843) The killer knew what the old man was experiencing, even had empathy for him in his mind, but at heart, he was enjoying the old man’s pain.

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Ironically, the murderer resembles Poe, in the way that “He had the faculty of detaching himself from the present and of imagining unseen continents”(Bloom3 80). Also, in the beginning of the story, “Our narrator says that the old man’s “vulture” eye was the reason for the murder, but no rational person could see that as a reason for a murder”(McArthur 85). Although his actings and sayings of craziness is shown after his murder, “Tell-Tale Heart” implies that the character was psychotic since the beginning of the tale. However; it is certain that acting of murder caused the main character to be obsessed with what he did, and his insanity which was brought next caused him to bring death to his

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The tell-tale heart is not a typical short story. It gives you an intens shiver which passes through your bones since you read the first sentences, even though this is one of the shortest stories written by Edgar Allan poe. Treating themes such as paranoia, stalking and human intelligence this story let you feel there's something wrong in the author mind. I wish you all read this story already, to understand how the story gains intensity increasing the terror around the figure of the author, which since the beginning attempt to rationalize his irrational behavior, literally terrorizing the reader, it is an incredible emotional challenge, even though as the whole story seems brutal and prive of sense during your first reading.

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Would you kill someone or something to stop being irritated by them? In The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, we get the inside scoop of the murder our unnamed narrator committed. This nameless man decided to kill his neighbor because he felt discomfort every time the victim’s eye looked at him (pg. 132). This madman decided that the only way to stop the piercing blue eye was to kill its owner. We can all relate to this psychopath even though most of us feel like we could never commit such a crime.

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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.

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The Tell-Tale Heart Argumentative Paragraph In the story, “ The Tell-Tale Heart ,” Poe gives ideas which could prove that the narrator is criminally insane. The narrator could be named mad for some of his many actions and thoughts. The facts supporting this include: the defendant killed the old man over his “evil eye”, he brutally murdered the man and dismembered his body, he has to remind himself that he isn’t mad even though he committed murder, and states that he hears the dead man's heartbeat get louder and louder until he confesses murder. To begin with, the defendant kills the old man he lived with over his “evil” eye. He states that it gets to him, and drives him to eventually, after the 8th night, kill him.

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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.

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