The Tell-Tale Heart Insanity

Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” is a gothic story about a man’s sanity. The Narrator believes that sanity, and other’s thinking that he is sane, is very important. But his obsession with this idea of sanity, is what makes him stand out for his insanity. Bloom says,“’The Tell-Tale Heart’ is a breathless, frightening monologue of the disintegration of consciousness and conscience under the onslaught of obsession.” Because this story is written in the first person point of view, the reader gets a look inside the Narrator’s mind. This makes it easier to see that the Narrator is insane.
From the first lines of the story the Narrator’s sanity can be questioned. The reader gets a sense of this by the confusing language that the Narrator uses. Because Poe wrote this story in first person, the reader gets a clear look into the Narrator’s mind. It is clear from what he thinks and sees that he can be categorized as unstable(Sova). In the words of Sova

While analyzing the story, Chua questioned if there ever was an old man. Could the old man and the Narrator been the same person. The Narrator explains how the Evil Eye irks him, what if he actually did not mean “eye” but “I”(Chua). It is clear that the Narrator closely relates to the old man. Both of these men, listen at night, and have a fearful groan. The Narrator just happens to scream at the exact same time the old man does. After he commits the murder, the Narrator carefully cleans up. Once the police arrive at the house, they check everywhere, and find no trace of the old man. Yet, the Narrator claims to hear the beating of the old man’s heart “ it was a low, dull, quick sound - much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”(Poe). There was no way for anyone else to hear this noise, because as stated before, the Narrator killed the old man. One way for this sound to be explained is that it was the Narrator’s