Comparing American Psycho And A Tell-Tale Heart

Patrick Bateman, in the elusive novel and cunning movie, American Psycho, and the unknown Narrator of Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart” secrete characteristics of striking similarity. Beginning with characterization, each character has their own specific dilemmas that they are attempting to cope with in a maniacal manner; murder. Bateman, a very precise and cunning man, attempts to deal with his social issues through mass murder and mutilation, while the narrator of A Tell-Tale heart only focuses his deeds on one particular person. For these two men, the more intense they go, the farther into insanity they dive and it becomes clear that murder is their only option of attempting to escape their delusional, psychotic hell. Not only is each character

However, motive is used lightly and loosely in this sense. From “American Psycho”, there is no clear cut reason behind his killings, but many are due to the fact that the people around him cause his feelings of insecurity and inadequacy to arise. They make fun of his strange demeanor and call him many names; his lawyer, after being caught for killing an old lady outside of an ATM, refers to him as “a brown-nosing goody-goody”, and many people outside of his select few group of friends refer to him as “yuppie trash” (American Psycho). This causes more mental instability and gives an easier path into the realm of psychosis. In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator specifically states, “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man…” However, it is later stated that the eye is what drove him to murder, “I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this!” (The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe). The conflict between the narrator and the eye give stable credit as to reason behind the murder of the old man, and while the delusion of “no direct cause for murder” is there, it is very clear cut as to why both Bateman and the narrator did what they