The Tell Tale Heart Guilt Essay

“Guilt is Cancer. Guilt will confine you, torture you, destroy you as an artist. It’s a black wall. It’s a thief.". A quotation by American musician Dave Grohl addresses the hardship and psychological pain guilt overwhelms people with. Like the quotation, the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe speaks to the exact ideas presented and furthermore dives deeper into how guilt impacts the human mind. The story revolves around a narrator who commits an intentional murder and has to live a life of lies to prevent his dark secret from spilling out to the public. Although these lies do work, every lie and fib he tells to get out of the situation kept eating away at him on the inside, to his breaking point where he ultimately comes

As a result the narrator is sent down a spiral of lies and deception in order to keep his secret from being found. “I asked the policemen to come in. The cry, I said, was my own, in a dream.” (Pg. 4) exhibits the idea that the narrator is ready to lie and deceive the police in order to throw them off his tracks. While this could seem smart and strategic, in his case this is morally wrong which leads to a series of questionable decisions throughout the story; while also hurting him emotionally. The narrator’s true colors are exposed with this incident, showing that not only is this character a murderer he is also a liar and deceiver. Edgar Allan Poe further explores this idea when he states “As if playing a game with them I asked them to sit down and talk for a while.” (Pg. 4). The following quotation from the story explores the concept that the narrator is trapped in his world of deception and wants to deceive the policemen into believing that nothing occurred in his residence. The inclusion of the idea that he is playing a game shows that he was ready to resort to any solution in order to become victorious in this so-called game he was playing with the police. Although the guilt never really builds up or impacts him in this moment, locking up his emotions to cover his true crime soon comes to haunt him as well. This act of justification and deceit is lastly showcased when the narrator states “My easy, quiet

Consequently having committed a murder and afterwards living a life of deception, the guilt finally begins to catch up to him. Psychologically the narrator is challenged, “My head hurt and there was a strange sound in my ears. I talked more, and faster.”. His head hurting and sounds emerging in his ear is a result of his bundled up emotions finally being released. Now being haunted by his mind he couldn't help but realize his mistakes. As a result the narrator’s attempts of trying to keep these feelings of guilt and remorse hidden began impacting him in ways he couldn't imagine. While trying to keep his fake persona in check he also had to maintain what was going on inside him to prevent his secret from spilling. This trauma and mentally difficult challenge is further explored when the narrator speaks “I talked even louder. And still the men sat and talked, and smiled.”. The narrator was able to deceive the police officers previously with his fake personality, which was now being jeopardized as this odd feeling inside him began creeping out. Although this feeling he was experiencing was impacting his personality drastically he also began to experience feelings of doubt which also added to the whole unpleasant experience. In one case his lie was working, but on the contrary he was now starting to believe this plan was going a little too well