In the piece of text, “A Tell Tale Heart”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is the main character of the story, who claims to be sane from his wisdom
The Tell-Tale Heart is a story about an insane narrator claiming to his sanity after murdering an old man out of anxiety and panic. Many believe the evidence points to the narrator being a calculated killer. After reviewing the symptoms of the narrator I believe him to be a man plagued with anxiety issues and panic attacks. First of all, the only reason the narrator had for such crime was of his eye, the eye of a vulture, nothing else. Not for his gold, property, or vengeance just his eye.
The Insanity is Unreal The narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-tale Heart” is insane. Throughout his story he has expressed an absurd amount of thoughts, words and actions, which will allow readers to ascertain his insanity. Edgar Allen Poe isn’t able to control impulsive behavior for multiple reasons, one being that he was not able to keep himself from looking through the door.
In the story, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe describes the
“I loved the old man. He never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!”
Through analyzing the actions of the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” it is evident that he is legally insane. The first sign of his insanity is his inability to control his impulsiveness. Some may argue that since the narrator waits eight days before killing the old man, he can clearly control his impulses. This argument’s flaw lies in the incorrect assumption that the narrator’s target is the old man, while his true target is, in fact, the pale blue eye the old man possesses. During his retelling of his exploits, the narrator states: “I undid it [the lantern’s covering] just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.”
Many authors incorporate some of the different literary elements throughout their stories to help demonstrate the purpose or theme of their work. By tying together the different elements, this allows authors to be creative and use different methods and mechanisms for everything to come together to form a theme in stories. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the author, Edgar Allen Poe, utilizes many different literary elements to be certain that his theme for the story is eye-catching in his work. In this chilling story, the theme of guilt is demonstrated throughout the whole story. The narrator’s sanity is definitely in question.
In the short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the author writes the story in first person perspective of the main character. The main character acknowledges that he has a disease that allows him to perceive and look at things differently in reality. This mental illness prompts him to want to kill an innocent man because the narrator loathes the old man’s eye. On the eighth night, the main character abruptly kills the old man and confesses to the police because of the panic and pride that has overcome his mind. Now, the killer is found guilty and now is being determined of what is to become of him.
Stories can often lead readers down rabbit holes due to unreliable narrators. When the narrator can not be trusted, it becomes difficult to understand the reality of the situation. In Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Tell Tale Heart,” the main character is a caretaker and he discusses this disease he has, and some claim he has just gone mad. The old man whom he cares for has an eye condition that sends him into a fit of rage strong enough to want to kill him ridding himself of the eye forever. He stalks the old man for a week then kills him one night.
The Narrator who killed the old man…was he insane, and will he admit his crime? The story takes place at the old man’s home. The narrator came to visit every night at midnight for a week and looked at him as he slept. He killed the man, but why did he do it? What happened to the narrator when the police came to the house?
Insanity Plea Essay: Persecution In Edgar Allan Poe’s morbid and suspenseful story, The Tell-Tale Heart, the deranged narrator is tormented by an old man’s pale blue eye. As the story progresses, he describes what led up to him killing the old man and hiding the body. The killer does admit to the crime; the question is, is he legally insane? According to USLegal.com, the legal definition of insanity can be summed up as a person, at the scene of the crime, not able to distinguish between fantasy and reality, tell right from wrong or control his/her behavior.
“Insanity: n. mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior” (Hill). This definition describes the narrator, a sweet yet deadly man, of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe seamlessly. (Appositive) A few prominent characteristics demonstrate the narrator’s insanity, and those include his motives, his actions, and his thoughts.
Last But not least , this story contained mystery. In “ Tell Tale Heart “ there's a mystery . why was the old man's eye so significant to the author . So significant that he had to kill him. “ It was not the old man who vexed me but it was the evil eye “ .
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author; he mainly focused in genres such as short stories and poems. Poe didn’t have much of an academic background in literature but, he excelled in it. Some people believe that his success was mostly due to the fact that his life was very sad, filled by a series on misfortunate events, such as being an orphan, suffering from poverty and being constantly surrounded by death. In his works, Poe portrays narratives that are characterized by their mystery and macabre. The topic of death was ever present in his work, constantly describe with dark moods and somewhat terrifying settings.
The narrator of “The Tell-tale Heart” is a madman who does not believe he is insane but continues to show otherwise during the telling of how he kills the old man to police officers. After a week of planning the murder, he still did not find satisfactory because he could still hear the beating of the old man’s heart. Also, if one is not a madman then why would one commit such a crime just because of an eye. While the narrator explains the story of how and why he commits murder, one can conclude that some details are unrealistic throughout his story. Which leads him to come off as a psychopath because of the details and the reason behind killing the old man.
