ipl-logo

The Tell Tale Heart Insanity

1353 Words6 Pages

At a glance, "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe is a story of insanity vs. sanity. Poe conveys this theme through his use of symbolism and imagery, the interactions that occur between characters, and word choice. Throughout the story, the main character continues to tell himself that he is not "mad." However, after completing a full analysis of the short story, I found that the most prominent theme in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is guilt: "a feeling of deserving blame for offenses" (Merriam-Webster). This theme is significant to today's modern world, for many people feel guilty for offenses they have committed and have a hard time convincing themselves of what they have done. The use of this theme of "guilt" in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is infeasible, …show more content…

By analyzing the characters' continuous affirmations, the eight nights of stalking and terror, the evil eye and heartbeast as well as their significance, and the final feeling of guilt, one can further understand the impact of deserving blame. The constant reference to the word "madman" at the beginning of "The Tell-Tale Heart" creates a stipulation that the main character felt the need to reassure his mind that what he has done, does not make him a madman. The word “madman” is also a use of symbolism by Poe, this word gives us a descriptive view of the portrayal of the character. "How, then, am I mad?" "Observe how healthy–how calmly I can tell you the whole story." Both quotes refer to the character's idea of having a clear mind (p. 3). These phrases can allow the audience to believe that the reason the character is doubting his mindset is to make everyone believe that he has done nothing wrong. This …show more content…

The character admitted that there was no ulterior motive besides that the old man had an “evil eye.” The eye “resembled that of a vulture–a pale blue eye (p. 3).” When the character described how the eye was the reason the old man was killed, it begins to bring back the theme of insanity. The eye is one of the biggest uses of symbolism throughout the entire story because it was the reason the entire act occurred. From the best analysis, the conclusion is that the eye represents the old man's characteristics; in Islam religion, an evil eye represents “misfortune that is transmitted from one person to another out of jealousy or envy (Huda).” Choosing either analysis, the character had a motive as to why the old man would be killed. During the seven nights, the character would only visit the old man to see if the evil eye was open, because when it was open the character knew it was time to

Show More
Related

The Tell Tale Heart Guilt Quotes

483 Words | 2 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the many authors who use events from their lives to affect their setting, plot and character(s). Throughout his life Poe witnessed many deaths, like his wife Virginia. He must have felt an enormous amount of guilt while she was sick because he had absolutely nothing to help her. This incident most likely helped inspire the short story The Tell Tale Heart. Coincidentally, a prominent theme in the story is Guilt, specifically, how it can drive a person crazy.

Read More

Examples Of Insanity In The Tell Tale Heart

492 Words | 2 Pages

“I loved the old man. He had never wronged me.... For his gold I had no desire. I think that it was his eye!" Every night for the past eight nights the narrator creeps into the old man's house and stalks the old man watching his every move.

Read More

The Tell-Tale Heart Insanity

908 Words | 4 Pages

While reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” written by Edgar Allen Poe, I could not help but to notice the mental conflict the narrator portrayed. Through obvious statements from the narrator and my own insinuations, I believe it is safe to conclude that the narrator’s claim to sanity was unreliable and compromised due to his/her mental state. The narrator’s attempt to rationalize his rational behavior in the end caused him to be looked at as a madman, we see this by how “wisely” he executed and handled the old man’s body after killing him, and how his “sharpened senses” as he described early in the poem, ultimately was the reason why he confessed to his crime. The story begins with how the narrator professes, “I loved the old man” and “He never wronged me”, then reveals how he was obsessed with the old man’s eye; “The eye of

Read More

Tell Tale Heart Sane Or Insane Analysis

565 Words | 3 Pages

This is exactly the reason the narrator has killed the old man, because of his “evil eye”. Not only is this ridiculous on its own, but the narrator directly states that he loved this man. “I loved the old man. He had never wronged

Read More

The Tell Tale Heart Insanity Essay

603 Words | 3 Pages

Despite sympathizing and relating to the old man’s fear, the narrator still finds amusement in haunting the old man at the dead of night. This attests that the narrator cannot distinguish right from wrong because he does not grasp that what he is doing to the old man is immoral. He is invoking terror for the benefit of his own deranged addiction to the daunting eyeball. Furthermore, the narrator proves once again that he cannot tell right from wrong when he not only takes the old man’s life, but also goes on to describe how immensely prideful he is in how swiftly he did so. Committing an act of murder is no generous deed, yet the narrator consequentially flatters himself for killing and discarding the old man in a supremely clean manner.

Read More

The Theme Of Insanity In Poe's The Tell Tale Heart

1215 Words | 5 Pages

“The Tell Tale Heart” is a story, on the most fundamental level, of conflict. There is a mental conflict inside the narrator himself (expecting the narrator is male). Through clear clues and explanations, Poe cautions the reader to the mental condition of the narrator, which is insanity. The insanity is portrayed as an obsession (with the old man 's eye), which thus leads to loss of control and in the long run outcomes in violence. At last, the narrator tells his story of killing his housemate.

Read More

Is The Tell Tale Heart Insane

389 Words | 2 Pages

The Tell-Tale Heart is a story about an insane narrator claiming to his sanity after murdering an old man out of anxiety and panic. Many believe the evidence points to the narrator being a calculated killer. After reviewing the symptoms of the narrator I believe him to be a man plagued with anxiety issues and panic attacks. First of all, the only reason the narrator had for such crime was of his eye, the eye of a vulture, nothing else. Not for his gold, property, or vengeance just his eye.

Read More

Madness And Obsession In Tell-Tale Heart

401 Words | 2 Pages

In the, Tell-tale Heart, Poe’s central ideas of madness and obsession are supported by his use of point-of-view, repetition, and punctuation. Poe’s use of a first- person point of view helps the readers understand the central idea of madness. The narrator states, “How then, am I mad? ... observe how healthily-how calmly I can tell you the whole story”. By allowing the readers into the narrators mind, they can clearly notice that the narrator is insane and unstable.

Read More

A Tell-Tale Heart Insane

755 Words | 4 Pages

A Tell Tale Heart A person suffering from his inner self can be found to indulge in inhumane actions in the story “A Tell Tale heart”. The author is suffering from different kinds of obsessions which he tries to hide from the audience in the story in order to prove his sanity. In most of the part of the story, Poe is trying to convince the readers that he is not insane. However, his actions and reactions to various things in the story shows his level of insanity.

Read More

Tell Tale Heart Guilt

762 Words | 4 Pages

He was satisfied that the man was dead, because he could get rid of the eye. The narrator was so crazy that he took the body up and cut it up. His arms were cut off, as well as his legs, and head, and he dismemebred the corpse. He put the old man in the chamber of the man’s house, but little did he know while he was busy with the body and killing/suffocating him when the shriek of the old man was let out one of the nieghbors had heard it. The narrator still proves to himself that he is mentally fine, and he is not mad or anything, and doesn’t want revenge, although this was not true, he was a lunatic, odd, and mentally

Read More

Theme Of Obsession In The Tell Tale Heart

983 Words | 4 Pages

It is through the power of obsession, guilt and paranoia in which, Edgar Allan Poe reveals how far people would go to hurt others. Obsession acts as a strong motive for crime. Edgar Allan Poe portrays obsession in “The Tell Tale Heart” through the narrator as he expresses his thoughts leading up to the murder. After the narrator argues his case to why he is not mad, he begins his story with an “idea” which “entered his brain,” which is the start of an obsession that “haunted him day and night” (2.1-2). The narrator speaks as if the eye of the old man is latching itself onto the him.

Read More

The Tell Tale Heart Analysis Essay

1226 Words | 5 Pages

The Tell-Tale Heart: Analysis Poe is best known as the author of horror and suspense. The dark- gothic element that surrounds his stories is enhanced even more with the appearance of multi-complex personalities which ‘move between the edge’ of normal and abnormal. One of his characters that represent this notion is the narrator and main character of his well-known story the “Tell-Tale Heart”. His psychological complexity and his narrative technique immediately captivates the audience attention who ‘struggles’ to come to some conclusion about the narrator’s state of mind. The narrator’s psychological instability is visible through the tone, the syntax and the constant alleviation between sanity and insanity.

Read More

Rhetorical Techniques In The Tell Tale Heart

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

The Argumentative Paragraph In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

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

Examples Of Paranoia In The Tell Tale Heart

1164 Words | 5 Pages

Obsession, internal conflict, and underlying guilt are all aspects of being human but when it’s associated with paranoia and insanity it may be just the recipe for the perfect crime as perceived by Edger Allan Poe in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe uses this as one of his shortest stories to discuss and provide an insight into the mind of the mentally ill, paranoia and the stages of mental detrition. The story 's action is depicted through the eyes of the unnamed delusional narrator. The other main character in the story is an old man whom the narrator apparently works for and resides in his house. The story opens off with the narrator trying to assure his sanity then proceeding to tell the tale of his crime, this shows a man deranged and hunted with a guilty conscience of his murderous act.

Read More

More about The Tell Tale Heart Insanity

Related Topics

Open Document