How Is The Tell Tale Heart Crazy

We can definitely go CRAZY INSANE sometimes! But that doesn't mean that we are wrong. In "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator is somewhat of a madman who kills an old man because of the way his eye looks. Despite initially getting away with the murder, the narrator is eventually caught, and thrown in jail. Throughout the entire story he continuously describes how he is NOT insane. The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" accurately portrays events in the short story. This is because the narrator is eidetic, very ambitious, and does not want people thinking he is insane.

One reason the narrator from the Tell-Tale Heart can be trusted to accurately portray the events from the story is because of the narrator's eidetic memory.

This is important because if the narrator had such a strong desire to succeed, and to preserve his pride, then why would he put his pride to waste by lying about the events of what happened, ruining his dignity. To illustrate, he says, "it was his eye! yes, it was this! ... I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever" (Poe 2). This is a direct reason from the narrator on why he would kill the old man, and although it is a bad reason, there is nothing suggesting the narrator would lie about something like this, as he has no reason to, and it gives him the ambiguity that would help him complete the task at hand. A second reason why could be very ambitious is when he "cut off the head and the arms and the legs" (Poe 13). Despite how most people would lie here to put themselves in a better light, or not want to talk about it at all, the narrator was able to tell it all calmly, an example of his determination, which he had no reason to lie about. In fact, lying here would help him, showing he was not lying. Thirdly, the narrator was very determined by the fact that he never says some words like "didn't mean to", "accident", and "he wronged me". This determines that the narrator is not lying, because if he was lying, then why would he say things like that? If he wanted to be thought of in a better light and maybe even be let off his

Consequently, in multiple parts of the text, the narrator says things like, "How, then, am I mad?" (Poe 1), and "You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing" (Poe 2). Both of these quotes show how the narrator is trying to show how he is not insane. The best way to show that you are not insane is to tell the truth, and not exaggerate or lie when you are trying to prove your sanity, as lying or making things up will just make people think you are insane. To clarify, the narrator loses more than he gains if he lies, as he has already been proven guilty. The narrator even goes as far to say, "If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body" (Poe 12). To sum it up, the narrator had no reason to lie here, as he says, if he was lying, then he would be mad, and being mad is the last thing he wants people to think. The narrators drive to show how he isn't mad makes lying almost impossible for him. Lastly, the narrator often says insane things such as, "A tub had caught all—ha! ha!" (Poe 13). When he says mad things like this, it might not make sense to the reader, because if he is arguing that he isn't mad, why would he say things like that? While, he would because acknowledging doing something, even if that thing was mad, legally makes you sane. So