Through analyzing the actions of the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” it is evident that he is legally insane. The first sign of his insanity is his inability to control his impulsiveness. Some may argue that since the narrator waits eight days before killing the old man, he can clearly control his impulses. This argument’s flaw lies in the incorrect assumption that the narrator’s target is the old man, while his true target is, in fact, the pale blue eye the old man possesses. During his retelling of his exploits, the narrator states: “I undid it [the lantern’s covering] just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.” He goes on to say, “but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible …show more content…
Yet, mere moments after he views the eye on the eighth night, he grows furious simply by viewing it, and attacks. Compounding this argument, the narrator is unable to tell right from wrong. The beating of the heart in the final scene of the story could be seen as a manifestation of the narrator’s guilt over his killing. Though it is more likely he fears being caught for his act of violence. Still, the fact he dreads retribution from the police means he might understand that what he did was wrong, but actions being punishable does not decide if they are right or wrong in the mind of any person. Showing the narrator’s lack of remorse is his claim in the beginning of the story: “Whenever it [the eye] fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees — very gradually — I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever.” (Poe 1). Being that this story is being told by the narrator after all actions in the story were committed, it seems unlikely that the narrator felt as though he had personally done wrong when he revealed the evidence. If he had, he would have indicated so in the