ipl-logo

Schizophrenia In Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

497 Words2 Pages

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects they way a person acts, think, and sees the world. The narrator from “The Tell-Tale Heart” acted very weirdly and had thoughts that no ordinary person would think. If a person has this disorder they usually act out in violence and have hallucinations. The narrator would believe things that were not there and he had evil thoughts of doing the unexpected. The narrator from “The Tell-Tale Heart” is schizophrenic because he acts out in violence and has hallucinations of things that didn’t even exist.
Essentially, schizophrenia often made people act out in violence. “During this frenzied episode they may shout, talk rapidly, pace back and forth, and act out in violence- either toward themselves or others”, this symbolizes that when having this disorder they are not aware of your emotions and they can be highly questionable (“Schizophrenia” 3). The narrator from “The Tell-Tale Heart” usually acted out in violence instead of dealing with the old man’s evil eye he just attacked him. “ I dragged him to the floor and pulled the …show more content…

The hallucinations of the narrator weren’t even possible to happen. “While hallucinations can involve any of five senses, auditory hallucinations (e.g. hearing voices or some other sound) are most common in schizophrenia. This statement declares that in their mind they hear sounds in their head that make them believe that it is real even if there is no possible way it can (Schizophrenia 2). “ It was a low, dull quick sound-- much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton….It is the beating of his hideous heart!”. The quote in “The Tell-Tale Heart manifest that the narrator was hearing the beating of the old man’s heart which isn’t doable because he killed the old man and he is no longer breathing (Poe 4). Due to being schizophrenic the narrator has hallucinations which makes him hear and see the

Show More
Related
275 Words | 2 Pages

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).

Read More
728 Words | 3 Pages

“ The Tell-Tale Heart” Interpretive Essay Is the complex character created by Edgar Allan Poe a calculated killer or a delusional madman. In the short story “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character has a mental condition which causes him to kill a neighbor. He believes that his neighbor has a “vulture eye” which is the reason why he killed him. Night after night, he watches the man and plans how to kill him. Then one night, he puts his plan into action.

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

This constant suffering results in the narrator stabbing the other to death, only to find out that he has actually stabbed himself. The narrator of “William Wilson” can be diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychosis, and delusional disorder based on his actions in the short story. To start, William Wilson could be diagnosed with the mental illness of schizophrenia. Common symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations

Read More
560 Words | 3 Pages

He refers to himself as Death, implying he has all knowledge and power over the old man. The reader becomes filled with dread as the man patiently waits to kill. The imagery portrayed in “The Tell-tale Heart” increases the demented tone that the narrator projects as the main character waits to strangle the old man. Every night, for a week, the murderer would “look in” upon the victim as he slept.

Read More
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!

Read More
1470 Words | 6 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe, a man who has changed literature through his numerous pieces of writing, such as The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Fall of the House of Usher. In Edgar Allan Poe’s famous work, The Raven, the main character is confronted with a raven. The character speaks to the raven, thinking it couldn’t respond, but the raven did respond, but only speaking one word, “Nevermore” (Poe 331). In some cases of mental illnesses, one can experience hallucinations, hearing voices, paranoia, and even persecutory delusion. Is it possible that the Raven could have symbolized something other than a bird.

Read More
557 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
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.

Read More
928 Words | 4 Pages

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that causes the sufferer to hear voices that are not actually there or experience paranoia. The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” hears the sound of a dead man’s heart beat: “I admit the deed! -tear up the planks! -here, here! -it is the beating of his hideous heart!”

Read More
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

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
558 Words | 3 Pages

The Tell-Tale Heart Argumentative Paragraph In the story, “ The Tell-Tale Heart ,” Poe gives ideas which could prove that the narrator is criminally insane. The narrator could be named mad for some of his many actions and thoughts. The facts supporting this include: the defendant killed the old man over his “evil eye”, he brutally murdered the man and dismembered his body, he has to remind himself that he isn’t mad even though he committed murder, and states that he hears the dead man's heartbeat get louder and louder until he confesses murder. To begin with, the defendant kills the old man he lived with over his “evil” eye. He states that it gets to him, and drives him to eventually, after the 8th night, kill him.

Read More
882 Words | 4 Pages

A narrator: defined as a person who guides or tells the story of events through one’s own experience. As far as we are told, the narrator tells the story precisely and can make the words of the page come to life. Yet, is it possible for the narrator to tell the story incorrectly through their own perspective? This well-written horror shows us anything is possible in the art of literature. From reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, readers learn that the narrator is unreliable and therefore cannot be trusted to tell the story completely accurately.

Read More
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.

Read More
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.

Read More

More about Schizophrenia In Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

Related Topics

Open Document