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The role of mental illness in edgar allan poes writing
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“ The Tell-Tale Heart” Interpretive Essay Is the complex character created by Edgar Allan Poe a calculated killer or a delusional madman. In the short story “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character has a mental condition which causes him to kill a neighbor. He believes that his neighbor has a “vulture eye” which is the reason why he killed him. Night after night, he watches the man and plans how to kill him. Then one night, he puts his plan into action.
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.
Modern artists today generally use images of physical and mental illness in literature. In The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, both short stories show the usage of illness, madness, and fear. The narrators in both stories try to convince the readers that the characters are physically and mentally ill. Edgar Allen Poe creates these vivid characters which successfully assist the building of plot and ideas. Poe demonstrates how a person’s inner turmoil and terror can lead to insanity through illustrative language.
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.
In the short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the author writes the story in first person perspective of the main character. The main character acknowledges that he has a disease that allows him to perceive and look at things differently in reality. This mental illness prompts him to want to kill an innocent man because the narrator loathes the old man’s eye. On the eighth night, the main character abruptly kills the old man and confesses to the police because of the panic and pride that has overcome his mind. Now, the killer is found guilty and now is being determined of what is to become of him.
The Tell-Tale Heart is a story about an insane narrator claiming to his sanity after murdering an old man out of anxiety and panic. Many believe the evidence points to the narrator being a calculated killer. After reviewing the symptoms of the narrator I believe him to be a man plagued with anxiety issues and panic attacks. First of all, the only reason the narrator had for such crime was of his eye, the eye of a vulture, nothing else. Not for his gold, property, or vengeance just his eye.
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. " By the describtion of the mans thought process on how this desire came about , the eye could of very well been a metaphor for surveillance from a father or surperior figure that initiated anger in the murders thought process.
It is through the power of obsession, guilt and paranoia in which, Edgar Allan Poe reveals how far people would go to hurt others. Obsession acts as a strong motive for crime. Edgar Allan Poe portrays obsession in “The Tell Tale Heart” through the narrator as he expresses his thoughts leading up to the murder. After the narrator argues his case to why he is not mad, he begins his story with an “idea” which “entered his brain,” which is the start of an obsession that “haunted him day and night” (2.1-2). The narrator speaks as if the eye of the old man is latching itself onto the him.
The Tell-Tale Heart written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1843 is about a man who claims he is not insane but only nervous. In turn, he tells a story to defend his sanity, in which he confesses to have killed an old man. He claims that his ambition was neither passion nor greed for money, but actually uneasiness of the old man’s pale blue eyes. He continues to insist that he isn’t mad because of his calm and collected actions. Even though he is a murderer, he claims that his composed actions aren’t ones of a psychopath.
“Insanity: n. mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior” (Hill). This definition describes the narrator, a sweet yet deadly man, of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe seamlessly. (Appositive) A few prominent characteristics demonstrate the narrator’s insanity, and those include his motives, his actions, and his thoughts.
The Tell-Tale Heart: Indirect Characterization In the excerpt “from The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allen Poe creates the conflicted character of an unnamed narrator through indirect characterization. Using the components of Action, what others say, and character’s internal thoughts, Poe portrays a story about insanity and reveals the conflicted and even insane thoughts and emotions going on in the character’s head. Poe uses Action as a component of indirect characterization to depict the meaning of the poem in many instances.
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.
The Tell-Tale Heart Argumentative Paragraph In the story, “ The Tell-Tale Heart ,” Poe gives ideas which could prove that the narrator is criminally insane. The narrator could be named mad for some of his many actions and thoughts. The facts supporting this include: the defendant killed the old man over his “evil eye”, he brutally murdered the man and dismembered his body, he has to remind himself that he isn’t mad even though he committed murder, and states that he hears the dead man's heartbeat get louder and louder until he confesses murder. To begin with, the defendant kills the old man he lived with over his “evil” eye. He states that it gets to him, and drives him to eventually, after the 8th night, kill him.
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” ( Voltaire) This quote helps explain the main idea of The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe , a story about a narrator who is the caregiver of the old man who explains his reasons and his exact ways for killing the old man he was taking care of. Out of spite for the victims vulture-like cataract eye, he plots this plan to kill for weeks to rid of the eye. He finally succeeds until a nosy neighbor foils the scheme. These are 3 reasons why the narrator is guilty of murder.
In this excerpt “from The Tell-tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe creates the supercilious character of an unnamed narrator through indirect characterization. Using the components of character motivation, internal thoughts, and actions, Poe portrays a story about deception and reveals the feelings of superiority, and ultimately guilt, that is invoked by the pretense of innocence. The narrator’s motivations can be identified through his internal thoughts and his actions. For example, both components are recognized when the narrator says “while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.”
