At the beginning of the story, the protagonist insists that he is not mad. But in the end, the reader can infer that the protagonist is mad. Obviously, Poe implies the protagonist’s insanity along the story. What technique does Poe use to convince the reader? How would the reader know the protagonist’s instability? At the beginning, a first-person point of view is used in this story. It lets the reader get to know the protagonist’s mind. Poe lets the reader know a lead character’s motive of the murder. It is uncommon that an ordinary people would like to kill someone because of his eyes, even though they are like a vulture’s eyes, but the protagonist, insisting that he is not mad, does it. Moreover, the reader can see the switch of the reality and the protagonist’s conceit along the story clearly but the narrator tells that it is all true which means he is mad. For example, the lead character tells that he hears the heartbeat from the old man so loud. There is no way for people, not using medical devices, to hear the other’s heartbeat. He imagines he has the sense of hearing. The most perversely is when the mad man hear the heartbeat from …show more content…
At the beginning, the narrator says, “TRUE! -- nervous -- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” The reader can imply that the protagonist will be mad. Conversely, he tells, “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight -- with what dissimulation I went to work!” This states about how wisely he murder an old man. How he plan to kill the old man let the reader know that he is clever. However, the reader will know at the end that a mad man is not that wise but how he think he is wise informs that he is mad. Poe uses this kind of vocabulary to convince the reader to believe that the protagonist is