Tell Tale Heart Guilt

Desirae Moore-Murphy Professor Young ENG 102 06/26/2024.

“The Tell-Tale Heart” In Edgar Allan Poe's “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the theme of guilt is well explored through the narrator's mental breakdown. Poe utilizes a handful of literary techniques, including, vivid imagery, first-person narration, and symbolism, to engage readers in the narrator's debilitating turn of events that leads to the destruction of his mental health. The constant heartbeat sound that haunts the narrator symbolizes the inescapable guilt, demonstrating how it can consume and destroy one's mental health. Through this gripping story, Poe highlights that guilt is an overpowering feeling that leads to paranoia, and ultimately, self-destruction. The theme of guilt is developed

Poe details this process: “And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch on his door and opened it—oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head.” (Poe 1) For a week straight, he repeats this ritual, but the eye is always closed, preventing the murder. On the eighth night, the old man wakes and sits up in bed, sensing him. Poe stands still, waiting patiently, and finally opens a small part of the lantern, letting some light fall on the eye. Seeing the eye open, Poe acts, smothering the old man in the bed. The body is then carefully dismembered and hidden under the floorboards. Poe then tries to justify his horrific act stating, “If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all, I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.” (Poe 3). This shows Poe’s lack of guilt, foreshadowing the mental breakdown caused by guilt. After the murder, Poe starts to hear the old man's heart beating beneath the