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John Cleman Poe And The Insanity Defense Analysis

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True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? . . . Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story. . . . You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded. (qtd. in Shen, 339.) In this section the narrator refers to the method of the action as the proof of his sanity. Nevertheless Shen argues that the story contains several references of insanity that contradict the process of the defence. Shen claims that even though he tells the story calmly, he undermines the credibility by the nervousness and the lack of true motivation. Another sign according to Shen is the insistence on the idea of killing, …show more content…

However there are several interpretations that connect this phenomenon to the cultural circumstances in which Poe lived. John Cleman argues in his essay “Irresistible Impulses: Edgar Allan Poe and the Insanity Defense” that this notion first appeared in England, due to several trials that ended up declaring the criminal mentally ill, so that the person was able to avoid punishment. At the beginning these people were not distinguished from criminals, but throughout the time, due to several reforms, finally they were placed in asylums, where they got the proper medical treatment. This state of being was claimed not culpable, through the fact that those people did not show the signs of rationality. (Cleman, 625-626) Cleman claims that this affected Poe, especially two cases, where the murderers were acquitted; James Wood, who killed his own daughter and Singleton Mercer, who murdered his sister’s seducer. (Cleman, 626.) According to Cleman, the defence started to became ridiculous, as in many cases it was used, when there was not even the sign of insanity. (Cleman, 627.) In my opinion, in this point of view, “The Tell-Tale Heart” can be seen as a satire of his age, regarding that a visibly madman intends to prove his sanity, whereas in reality sane people aimed to be declared

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1344 Words | 6 Pages

There is also an inclination to believe that if he had not suffered from this state, then the offence would not have been committed, specially not in the barbaric way it was done. Thus, it cannot be concluded that the accused willfully preformed the act, nor that the mens rea and the actus reus coincided while he was not in a psychotic state. (Roach, 113) Related to this finding is another element that supports the verdict of the Honorable Judge, which is the Principle of Fundamental Justice that states that no one should be “punished for morally involuntary actions.” (Roach, 82) A person who successfully raises the mental disorder defence is considered to be morally innocent of the act because they were not acting freely, in this case, free from psychotic ideations.

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In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator should not be guilty by reason of insanity. “Insanity Defense” states that a man is innocent by means of insanity if he has committed the crime because he is “unable to control his impulses” as a result of mental disease (“Insanity Defense” 1). Similarly, the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” viewed the old man’s “pale blue eye, with a film over it” with hatred (Poe 1). When the old man’s eye looked upon the narrator, he would uncontrollably increase in fury and anger. This led the narrator to “[make] up [his] mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid [him]self of the eye forever” (Poe 1).

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I am not giving him an excuse for murder. I’m just trying to say that he wasn’t aware of what he was doing and doesn’t completely understand what he did. Mr. Poe claims that he killed the old man because, of his unusual mind. Now does that sound sane to you, the jury, because, no sane person would even attempt to kill someone. That would mean that Mr. Poe is not sane and is very much

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419 Words | 2 Pages

The Tell-Tale Heart is a story about a nameless narrator who claims that he is not insane but rather has some sort of “disease”(Poe 303). A disease that has “sharpened [his] senses”(Poe 303). To prove that he isn’t insane, he begins by saying, “How, then, am I mad? Hearken!

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1543 Words | 7 Pages

Should the insanity defence be reformed? Discuss referring to current law and evidence on how the defence is used in practice. This essay will analyse the defence of insanity by discussing the elements of M’Naghten rule: defect of reason, disease of the mind, and not knowing what defendant was doing or not knowing that it was ‘wrong’ at the time of offence, and the fit to trial test by reviewing relevant cases to demonstrate how the defence is applied in Criminal Law, and possible reform for the defence of insanity. The defence of insanity is for all crimes to those who are suffering from mental disorders and do not know what they are doing at the time of the offence or do not know that what they are doing is wrong.

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Insanity Defense Imani Batiste Lee College Insanity Defense The insanity defense is described as, “A defense asserted by an accused in a criminal prosecution to avoid liability for the commission of a crime because, at the time of the crime, the person did not appreciate the nature or quality or wrongfulness of the acts” (Encyclopedia, 2005). It was first instituted in late-thirteenth-century England as “Complete Madness” (Encyclopedia, 2005). The defense is based on the belief that people who are ill should be treated for their illness rather than sentenced to prison or death. There are legitimate times when an individual has a serious mental illness that caused their actions because they were not able to process correctly.

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Since many centuries, the liability of the insane for crime has always been one of the most controversial questions in the Criminal Law. In fact, it is very controversial because insanity itself is difficult to define, and the circumstances in which insanity can be used as exculpatory evidence are difficult to characterize. Insanity defense appeared before so many centuries, and according to California Law review, Crotty (1924) stated “The insane offender has been dealt with from the earliest times in English law. Probably the earliest authority is Theodoric, Archbishop of Canterbury (668-690 A.D.).”

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Insanity is a disease capable of making a person lose control of themselves. On the other hand, sanity is when a person is what others call “normal”. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe the narrator kills a man and he is confessing to the cops about it. He confesses how long the murder took and what he did each night and how he executed the murder. However, the narrator is not guilty because of the reason of insanity.

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I. Opening remarks To begin to understand the question in hand, the reader must first comprehend a brief history behind the ‘Insanity Defence’, what is actually meant by the term and most importantly; under what grounds it should remain, despite criticism and its desired abolishment. This paper will look at situations in which the Insanity Defence proved necessary and the benefits and drawbacks of the defence in instances relating to legal matters in the criminal field. Thus; in this sense, the term Insanity Defence can be defined as; “not punishable is he who commits an act which cannot be attributed to him because of poorly developed or pathologically disturbed mental capacities.” In such circumstances, the insane defendant shall be compulsorily admitted to treatment in a mental hospital, thus as such, raising the fact that through pleading insane, the defendant “risks to be deprived of his freedom for an

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2718 Words | 11 Pages

In his journal article, The Insanity Defense: The New Loophole he said, “in Pennsylvania and most other states, defendants found not guilty by reason of insanity are diverted to the mental health system, from which they are usually released within a relatively brief time, often unsupervised and on heavy doses of psychotropic medication”. Their treatment doesn’t “reduce the probability of a repetition of criminal conduct” (Caesar, 1979) . He and many other people believe the accused try and use the defence so they can avoid having a long prison sentence or in extreme cases, the death penalty as the insanity defence doesn’t allow capital punishment. Even in the case of homicide, the defendants can get out in a relatively short period of time. For example, Jeffrey Arenburg shot and killed sportscaster Brian Smith in 1995.

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1395 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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945 Words | 4 Pages

All of his deranged actions validate his madness. The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is discernibly a madman. His motives, actions, and thoughts prove his insanity. The definition of insanity fits the narrator to a T. His psychosis controlled his behaviors and pushed him into chopping up another human being and disposing the pieces like

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‘ You have already, calling my prophecies a lie.’ ‘Why not? You and the whole breed of seers are mad for money!’ ‘And the whole race of tyrants lust for filthy gain.’ ‘This slander of yours - are you aware you're speaking to the king?’

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496 Words | 2 Pages

Ultimately it comes down to this, insane or sane? Insane would be the perfect way of describing a person being mad, killing a man for no reason, and laughing at a horrifying death. After having the narrator showing so many things to prove he is insane rather than sane is pretty clear. The author allows a visual understanding of the narrator in the “Tell Tale Heart” from having many specific details about his point of view.

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821 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator of “The Tell-tale Heart” is a madman who does not believe he is insane but continues to show otherwise during the telling of how he kills the old man to police officers. After a week of planning the murder, he still did not find satisfactory because he could still hear the beating of the old man’s heart. Also, if one is not a madman then why would one commit such a crime just because of an eye. While the narrator explains the story of how and why he commits murder, one can conclude that some details are unrealistic throughout his story. Which leads him to come off as a psychopath because of the details and the reason behind killing the old man.

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