Tell Tale Heart Foreshadowing

The short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” written by Edger Allan Poe concerns a narrator who had committed a crime-- murder. The story details how he pursued this action, with a focus on how he had gone through with it and why he got caught. Throughout the story, Poe uses foreshadowing, imagery and irony to characterize the author as anxious, obsessive and mad.
Firstly, the story begins with the narrator denying his madness. The narrator defends, “True!-- nervous-- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why would you say that I am mad?” Followed by this question he claims, “The disease has sharpened my senses…Above all, hearing was acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard things in hell.” These statements

The manner in which the narrator peers his head through the old man’s door is done with such particularity that it could only be fueled by obsession. The narrator states, “Every night...It took me an hour to place my head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed.” The narrator also seems to place an emphasis on how cautious and particular he had been with his observations of the old man. Furthermore, when the narrator opens the lantern, a single dim ray illuminates the old man’s vulture eye, and it is wide open. The narrator remarks, “I could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.” The ray of light portrays the narrator’s fixation on the old man’s eye, which became the origin of the

Throughout the story, the narrator denies his madness despite his abnormal behavior. The narrator is very particular about how he carries out his crime, ensuring that he is thorough about destroying evidence. The narrator describes, “If you still think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body… First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and legs.” There are many parts of dialogue similar to this-- the narrator denies his madness yet ironically describes his behavior with either an aloof or overly anxious tone. For example, when he describes hiding the body, “I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly that no human eye- not even his- could have detected anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out... I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all-- ha! ha!” The ironic nature of the narrator’s attempt to persuade the reader of his sanity contrasted with his actions instills a sense of doubt within the reader and emphasizes his