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Mentally Insane In A Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

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"As many as 5% of people display psychopathic or sociopathic personality disorders," (Mann, 1). While this quote might shock most, if not all people, it supports the claim that everyone knows at least one person who shows these tendencies. The narrator from "A Tell Tale Heart" is in this five percent, meaning that he shows either psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies. which adds to the fact of him being mentally ill. While this might seem petty, a normal, sane person, would not tell about how a disease helps them, or how the disease has, instead of hurt them, improved them. The reason the previous statement helps to prove that the Narrator is mentally ill is because he believes this. In "A Tell Tale Heart" Edgar Allen Poe writes, "This disease has sharpened my senses-not destroyed-not dulled them,"(Poe, 1). Upon writing this, Poe shows how the narrator is mentally insane, also known as a psychopath, by describing how he, the narrator, believes that the illness he has helps him more then it hurts him. …show more content…

The reason why this would prove that the narrator is insane is because if he were mentally stable, he would not be imagining, or hallucinating, the beat of the old man's heart. To support his the text states, "I found the noise was not within my ear...and yet the officers heard not,"(Poe, 7). When Poe writes this, he is showing that the narrator is insane because he is the only one, out of the three in the room, who is able to hear the heartbeat of the old mans

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The definition of Legal insanity is that at the time of the crime, the killer couldn’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy, right from wrong, and/or could not control his/her behavior. The killer in “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is not legally insane. The killer is not insane because of the killer having controlled behavior when planning the murder, hiding the body because the killer knows what the killer did was wrong, and the killer acted crazy and freaked out around the police after the crime was committed. For instance, a reason the killer is not insane is the killer could control the killer’s behavior.

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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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The disease had only sharpened my senses not dulled them. " When reading "Tell-Tail Heart" the narrator seems insane, and if he went to see a health expert, a negative result would come back at him.

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The Style of Poe Analysis In “The Tell-tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, the demented, arrogant and dark tones reflect the man’s guilt and insanity that eventually leds him to admit to the crime he committed. Poe’s diction heightens the arrogant tones which is seen as the man plans the murder and carries it out in a careful, organized way. He goes “boldly” into the chamber, “cunningly” sticks his head in the doorway and feels “the extent of his own power”. Poe’s use of diction shows how cocky the man actually is.

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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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After completing the reading of, “The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe”, I have come to the conclusion that the narrator is suffering from psychotic episodes. The narrator starts off immediately advising us that “the disease had sharpened his senses” (Poe 41). This immediately makes me believe that there is some type of mental illness that the narrator is dealing with such as schizophrenia and delusional disorders. We see how the narrator starts to question and find logic in the reasoning for being angry. At the same time the narrator shows us that they are extremely nervous but cannot seem to find the words for reasoning of why they are feeling this way.

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Caleb Vander Wall Mrs. Petersen Writing Workshop 6 February 2023 Argumentative Essay on “The Tell-Tale Heart” “Only that eye, hard blue eye, and the blood in my body became like ice”(Poe 66). The narrator in the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” murdered an old man some people say that the narrator was insane and mentally ill. However, there is enough evidence to show that the man was clearly in mind when he killed the old man. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator is sane because he meticulously planned the murder of the old man, and he could hear the conscience rather than act impulsively.

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760 Words | 4 Pages

In the story, the narrator says “It was the beat of the old man's heart”(Poe). While hearing a heartbeat right before killing the old man. This proves that the old man is insane, because he believes that his own nervous heartbeat was that of the old man’s. A sane person would know that the heartbeat was that of their own and would know that you can't hear a dead man's heartbeat. The narrator also said that “The sound would be heard by a neighbor”.

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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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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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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.

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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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780 Words | 4 Pages

Unsoundness Of Mind.. Insanity is defined in many ways. It’s all up to the person and their point of view. The actual definition of insanity is “a 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. Insanity is distinguished from low intelligence or mental deficiency due to age or injury.” (via http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=979) The narrator from the short story “The Tell Tale Heart” is a lot of things.

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1164 Words | 5 Pages

Obsession, internal conflict, and underlying guilt are all aspects of being human but when it’s associated with paranoia and insanity it may be just the recipe for the perfect crime as perceived by Edger Allan Poe in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe uses this as one of his shortest stories to discuss and provide an insight into the mind of the mentally ill, paranoia and the stages of mental detrition. The story 's action is depicted through the eyes of the unnamed delusional narrator. The other main character in the story is an old man whom the narrator apparently works for and resides in his house. The story opens off with the narrator trying to assure his sanity then proceeding to tell the tale of his crime, this shows a man deranged and hunted with a guilty conscience of his murderous act.

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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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