To What Extent Is The Narrator Insane In The Tell Tale Heart

Cartor Crisp
Mrs. Gallagher
Lit and Comp 8/ Blk 2

The Fate of an Innocent Man Of the millions of people around the world that have been accused of crimes, only around 1% have pleaded insanity. Of this 1%, only 25% have proven successful, and 90% actually had a mental illness. In the thriller short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the author Edgar Allen Poe explains the story of a murder from the point of view of the murderer. The plot follows along in the series of events leading up to the murder of a beloved old man, and leaves the reader wondering whether the narrator is either a guilty, cold-blooded murderer or a innocent mentally insane man. Though it is made obvious that the narrator is insane, and thus not guilty of murder. While some

One instance where this occurs is when the narrator waits by the door of the old man’s room, and the narrator states, “But the beating grew louder, louder!”(3). The beating is later said to be the old man’s heartbeat, heard by the narrator from the doorway. Though this may seem reasonable at first, the narrator is standing a fairly large distance from the old man, at least far enough that the old man doesn’t notice his presence. This would make it nearly impossible for the narrator to clearly hear the heartbeat of the old man, proving that the sound must be inside his own head and probably caused by some mental illness. After the murder had already occurred, the narrator willingly invites two police officers into the room where the body of the old man was. As he sits and chats with the men, he thinks, “My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears”(4). In the quote, the man says that his head aches (one of the symptoms of hallucinations) and there was a ringing in his ears.Though earlier the narrator does state that he becomes calm and collected once the police officers come, it seems that the presence of the dead body triggers a hallucination. One of the main symptoms of insanity, there is a multitude of evidence showing that the narrator experiences hallucinations throughout the story. While hallucinations are an important factor in the argument about the

However, this is incorrect, due to just how quickly the narrator shows the officers the still beating heart of the dead body. He also explains the entire story to the audience, clearly disregarding the consequences of murder. As the narrator breaks down in front of the suspecting police officers, he says, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"(4). If the narrator were to hold out a little while longer, the police officers could have left his house and he would have no consequences. But since he is insane, he ignores the consequences and plainly tells the officers he did the crime, and shows them the physical evidence hidden within the boards of the floor. This quick confession is not caused by the police officers, but by the narrator’s mind, because of his assuming that the officers already knew he had murdered an old man. So, it is proven that the narrator in fact did not crack under the pressure of the police officers, but was cracked the entire time (in sense of his capability to form logical