Examples Of Delusion In The Tell Tale Heart

Humanity’s Delusion Edgar Allan Poe effectively utilizes different elements in the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” to convey his message. Poe believes that literary pieces should be short enough to finish in one sitting yet still be able to tell just as much to give more impact to the readers (Cummings, 2010). As does his other writings, “The Tell-Tale Heart” portrays several characteristics people have, revealing much about certain extremities in human nature and society in general. In the first few paragraphs Poe already presents us important details to the story. 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). Poe gives

In the end of the short story, the narrator couldn’t bear “the hypocrital smiles” nor “the beating of his hideous heart” and admitted his crime. He cannot stop the beating of the heart growing louder; his conscience is haunting him. He cannot contain the tale which the heart had to tell. It is often too late when we finally realize what damage we have done—how we ruined someone else’s life. Then we fear what we’ve brought ourselves into; we fear the consequences we’d have to face. We know (and may fear) that the truth will