ipl-logo

What Is The Narrator In The Tell Tale Heart

1131 Words5 Pages

The Tell-Tale Heart, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is a horror short story read by many. The point of view in Poe’s short story is unique because the unnamed narrator reveals himself as an unreliable first and second person narrator as well as an all-knowing narrator. Poe has skillfully incorporated different narrations into his short story because it helps the reader truly understand the narrator’s mental state. The multiple narrations give the reader access to the narrator’s constant stream of thoughts throughout the text. This access helps the reader understand the narrator's guilt and fear that had lead him to defeat by the end of his story. The narration of The Tell-Tale Heart plays a key role in developing the story’s overall meaning by exposing the narrator's motive, desire to prove his sanity, and his hidden guilt. It is learned that no matter how hard one tries to avoid the truth, guilt will always catch up to him or her in the future. …show more content…

The narrator is a caregiver of an old man and one day develops the desire to kill the old man. The narrator initially explains that he had no true reason to murder the old man, however, once the idea entered his head, he could not think otherwise. His desire to kill the old man strengthened when he explained his hatred for the old man’s cloudy eye. The narrator despised the eye and decided to carry on with his deed. The story continues as the narrator describes the development of his murder until the night he commited the crime. Afterwards, the narrator cleverly hides the body, but eventually ends up turning himself in to the

Show More
Related

  • The Tell Tale Heart Analysis Essay

    1226 Words  | 5 Pages

    The beginning of the “Tell-Tale Heart” immediately sets the ambiguous mood of the story. The first line captivates almost instantaneously the reader’s attention due to the irregular pattern of the sentence. “TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”

    Read More

  • The Narrator Of Tell-Tale Heart

    664 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was his guilty conscious! The narrator wanted to kill the old man because of the old mans eye. The narrator thought the eye was watching. How could a eye drive someone to go crazy, or even try and kill someone?

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Tell Tale Heart And The Raven

    930 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Tell Tale Heart is narrated anonymously yet extremely in depth, leaving the reader with an ominous perspective. The use of first person creates a mysterious interpretation for the readers as we construe the tale from an individuals point of view, looking into the story. The story builds up upon the narrator’s guilt over intentionally killing an innocent man. A suspicious neighbor cries out for help after hearing a shriek and three policemen investigate the situation. During the climax, the narrator is at the greatest intensity of guilt and craze.

    Read More

  • The Tell Tale Heart Insanity Essay

    868 Words  | 4 Pages

    On the fourth page of the story, a quote states“—but I found the eye always closed, and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye”. The narrator doesn’t actually want to kill the old man but instead has an irrational fear of a fantasy of the Old Man’s “evil” eye and that is what drives him to commit the murder. The readers know this because the quote shows how the narrator has no urges to kill the man when the eye is not seen. Another quote that shows how the Narrator can not distinguish fantasy from reality is “The officers were satisfied.

    Read More

  • Duality In The Tell Tale Heart

    351 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Tell-Tale Heart: The Plan", a graphic rendition of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", reveals through perspective and coloration, the influence the two dimensions of the mind have on the narrator’s actions. This graphic rendition is presented in the form of seven panels, exhibiting various events of “The Tell-Tale Heart” in the first and third person perspectives. In fact, six out of the seven panels that make up this graphic rendition are presented in the third person perspective, while only one panel is presented in the first person perspective. This perspective duality may a method to distinguish which aspect of the mind has the most influence on the narrator’s current actions, the conscious or the unconscious. The first box depicts what appears

    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

  • Poe's Revenge Quotes

    666 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe is a writer who struggled through a lot, for example his mother, wife, and brother died all of the same disease. Poe is a writer who is inspired by all the pain and depression he has gone through in his life. In most of Poe 's stories, the narrator wanted revenge, but usually gets caught and later executed. In Poe’s stories the main theme is that anger leads to bad decisions. In Poe’s story,Tell-Tale Heart, the Narrator is man at an old man, because he doesn’t like his eye.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Tell-Tale Heart And A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    655 Words  | 3 Pages

      The authors of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “Harrison Bergeron” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” use various types of point of view, like first person, third person limited, and third person omniscient, to convey their story line.   Edgar Allen Poe uses first person point of view in the short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, to put the reader into the unnamed narrator’s perspective.   In the first sentence of the story, a reader can tell that first person point of view is being used by looking at the pronouns.

    Read More

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

    728 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Unreliable Narrator In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    882 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the story, three major details of the narrator’s psyche are confirmed. First, we learned of the narrator’s deceitfulness. Every morning he lies to the old man with the least bit of guilt. The next continues to prove the madness as the narrator feels utter joy from the terror of another. Lastly, the narrator fabricates that the old man is simply not home to assure the officers.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Suspense In The Tell Tale Heart

    940 Words  | 4 Pages

    There is always something that bothers us in life, whether it’s others or even our own conscious. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator has a difficult time following through with his cruel acts because a part of him knows it’s truly wrong. Throughout the story, his crimes bring more tension between him and the old man. Suspense is created with his every move, leaving readers hanging on the edge of their seats. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe builds suspense by using symbolism, inner thinking, and revealing information to the reader that a character doesn’t know about.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Delusion In The Tell Tale Heart

    1213 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Tell-Tale Heart was told in the first person point of view. The narrator (also the main character) was paranoid and admitting he is nervous yet still sane creating a sad and sinister, slightly intense mood for the reader. This foreshadows that the narrator must have done something deviant and that others attribute him to have gotten insane. The narrator then tells the whole story to justify his sanity. The different conflicts in the story can already be determined—both internal and external: firstly, that the protagonist’s own conscience is haunting him (man vs. self); secondly, that the protagonist needs to prove his sanity (man vs. society); and that the protagonist wants to get rid of the eye of the old man (man vs. eye).

    Read More

  • Madness And Obsession In Tell-Tale Heart

    401 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the, Tell-tale Heart, Poe’s central ideas of madness and obsession are supported by his use of point-of-view, repetition, and punctuation. Poe’s use of a first- person point of view helps the readers understand the central idea of madness. The narrator states, “How then, am I mad? ... observe how healthily-how calmly I can tell you the whole story”. By allowing the readers into the narrators mind, they can clearly notice that the narrator is insane and unstable.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Rose For Emily And The Tell Tale Heart

    862 Words  | 4 Pages

    The protagonist in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is the narrator, he is “very dreadfully nervous”, paranoid, and mentally ill. He cannot cognizes whether what he sees is real or unreal. He seems to be lonely and friendless. Also, he is a murderer. In spite of the fact that the narrator loves the old man, he kills him because he afraid of his blue “evil eye”.

    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

More about What Is The Narrator In The Tell Tale Heart

Open Document