The Tell-Tale Heart The story of The Tell-Tale Heart is of a man, who killed an innocent old man, which he is now being punished for. In the story the narrator says “TRUE… nervous… very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am” (Poe). This sentence gives a lot of insight into the narrator and the way the story is being told. The entire story is a flashback of what happened and why he believes it was necessary. It has been discussed that Poe uses a flashback so that the narrator has an extended opportunity to assure the audience of his sanity. Although he is in fact clearly deranged. Also, the flashback allows us to get a little insight into his current state after confessing to the murder. We believe the feelings the narrator describes and that he has killed the old man. Nevertheless, it seems as though the narrator has left out important parts like the exact relationship between him and the old man, which means we know that not all the details and the narrator cannot be trusted. (Hsu) The narrator’s physical appearance or gender is not specified. A common assumption is that the narrator is male. Moreover, when analysing the language used there is no evidence of any specific gender. (Rajan) Critics have argued that Poe wanted people to gain their own impression of the character, also it tells people that this narrator could be …show more content…
Firstly he gives some insight into his childhood and the love of animals he has always had. Except from some teasing of his loving nature as a child there seems to be few problems, or that is at least what the narrator is telling us. His use of flashback shows the drastic change that has happened to our narrator. This is where the gothic genre is seen, it is often about a decaying environment or decaying mental health. (Deshmukh) The use of flashback and the decaying environment really shows the dark and twisted way in which a mad man mind works