Hate Crimes In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe had not a single idea of the relevance his short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” would pose on the current issue of the ownership of weapons among Americans. In his short story, he reveals the mind of what many health professionals would label a psychopath. Similarly, the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” has an obsession with the old man’s eye. Obsessions are often the cause of the many hate crimes that are rising in the topic of American crime. Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” explains why mental illness is the root of the rise in hate crime in the United States. Although the opposing side believes weapons cause crime, Poe’s short story and the causes behind real-life hate crimes prove that mental illness is the true committer of the

In his story, the narrator talks about how much the old man’s eye bothers him(Poe, pg. 965). One can tell the narrator suffers from a mental illness because of the extremities he takes to rid himself of the old man’s eye. According to one author, Ghada Sasa, Ph.D. in English Literature and Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, it can be inferred that the unnamed narrator suffered from paranoia because he was continuously “trapped in persistent unjustified suspicion”(Sasa) of the old man because of his “pale blue eye”(Poe, pg. 965). Because paranoia is a side effect of many mental illnesses(Paudel,) such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, it is highly likely the narrator suffered from one of some kind. Often, when people are annoyed by something about another person, he or she moves on without ever reaching the point of paranoia. The narrator had an underlying mental illness causing him to reach this point. Reaching this point of paranoia caused him to plan out extreme measures to get rid of the old man's eye. In this turning point of the

The narrator did not need a gun to kill the old man, only his hatred for the old man’s eye. The opposing side believes that weapons give criminals a sense of confidence that causes them to be more liable to commit crimes like “burglary”(Moody). An article by the opposed reader, titled “Guns and crime” by Carlisle Moody, states “there is some evidence that handguns”(Moody) lead to crimes. By examining mental illness and its association to hate crime, the critic should be easily persuaded that mental illness is the true root of many crimes. With enough passion the weapon helps, but it is the shooter who most likely has a mental illness that pulls the trigger to accomplish the nefarious