Borderline Personality Disorder In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

Borderline Personality Disorder is a mental disability that causes a person unstable moods, intense emotional responses, “out of body” experiences, psychotic episodes, and trouble regulating emotion. The effects of this disorder can sometimes lead to violence if the disease is not addressed and treated. Due to an overwhelming amount of evidence from the story, it becomes crystal clear that the main character of the story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell tale Heart suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder, a form of insanity. In the story, the main character murders an old man that he is supposed to be caring for, only because the man’s eye irks our protagonist. The protagonist’s insanity is evidenced by his unstable relationships, and his disconnection from reality. Some may believe that the main character’s actions are

An example of this sudden change between love and loathing can be found in this excerpt from the story: “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees --very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” The quote displays that the protagonist’s relationship with the old man is a good one, and that the old man is kind to the main character. This also proves that the sole reason that the old man was murdered was because of his eye. This kind of drastic change from loving a person to hating them is a common side effect of having Borderline Personality Disorder, and the fact that our protagonist actually goes so far as to kill the old man that he cares for further cements the notion that the protagonist has this type of