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Motive In The Tell Tale Heart

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When a case of murder occurs, The suspected offender is put on trial and each and every small detail will determine his future. Once the jury convicts the man, a sentence is decided that fits the crime. The Death Penalty, Life without Parole, or 50 years in Prison, The Jury must review and find which suits the crime. “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe speaks about a mysterious man who lives in a discreet and lowly house with an old man. The story is told in First Person in perspective of the man. The man starts by telling how the old man has an odd vulture-like eye and how it disturbs and angers him greatly. He goes on about how he would stalk the old man during his sleep for 8 nights and how he would manipulate the old man. One night, …show more content…

“ And Every Night, about midnight, I turned to the latch of his door and opened it oh, so quietly! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no light shone out, and then I thrust my head in,” “I undid the lantern cautiously oh, so cautiously I undid it so much that a single ray fell upon the vulture eye”. This excerpt explains how the man admits to deliberately entering the old man 's room numerous times. The next line reads that the man would use his lantern to examine the old man 's eye and found a desire to murder. This is significant as this evidence clearly fits the requirements of first-degree murder as it was premeditated. There is a clear motive and pre-stated reason to kill, and the man goes on to execute his plan of …show more content…

“The Tell Tale Heart” is a perfect example of what a 1st Degree Murder conviction requires, Premeditation and Intent to Kill. In Gregg vs. Georgia 1976, The Court concludes that the 8th Amendment allowed Capital Punishment. Capital Punishment was to be used in the most serious of cases with aggravating evidence and for serious offenders. The murderer in “The Tell Tale Heart” had deliberately strangled an elderly man and went on to dismember and conceal the old man 's corpse. This murderer must be convicted with the capital punishment as he is a dangerous, calculated killer with no heart. To give this man any sentence other than the death penalty will not be equal to the life he has taken away from the old

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