Psychosis and Guilt in The Tell-Tale Heart - 977 Words

In Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,† the narrator explains how he is not mad, how cautious he is in planning a murder. A person can argue however with the narrator of ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, which he is indeed mad. The anxiety the narrator experiences through out the story makes him mad, it is also the guilt that brought on more anxiety to the narrator at the end of the story. The narrator constantly speaks of how he is not mad; he constantly as the reader why would they think he is mad. â€Å"True! –nervous-very, very, dreadfully nervous. I had been and still am; but why will you say that I am mad?† (Poe 884). The narrator does not believe that he is a mad man, much less have any mental issues. In â€Å"Overview: ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’† the†¦show more content†¦Even during the time when the narrator was in the process of hiding the body, he does not find himself insane. The narrator speaks of how is was so cunning and intelligent enough to not get a spot of blood anywhere, of how he placed the boards of the floor precisely as they were before the murder. After the murder, the narrator hears a knock at the door. He proceeds to open the door to find that it is three policemen, who were there because of a disturbance call. The police tells the narrator for why they are there, which a neighbor heard a scream in the night. When the narrator hears this, he tells the police that it was his scream. Once the narrator welcomes the police to search the home, the narrator goes as far as leading police into the room where he had committed a murder and hid the body. The narrator cleverly comes up with an idea to hide the murder, â€Å"The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search-search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber† (Poe, 887). The narrator shows the police that there was nothing abnormal in the house, he proc eeds to talk to them while feeling at ease. While in the room where the old man was is buried, the narrator is sitting on a chair, which is above where the old man’s body parts are. He engages in conversation with the policemen. In the narrators mind, he starts to feel guilty his anxiety rises. He believes he starts to hear the oldShow MoreRelatedThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allen Poe934 Words   |  4 Pagesarms and the legs†, said the madman (39). In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, the themes are vital for readers to identify with the madman’s reasoning of every single action he executes. Such events as in the first sentence would be difficult, if not impossible, to grasp without the knowledge of any themes. While some individuals may feel that themes are merely add-on elements in similar tales, this analysis will establish quite the contrary. The themes are crucial to theRead MoreTell Tale Heart vs. the Black Cat Essay1096 Words   |  5 PagesEdgar Allan Po e is considered to be one of the greatest American writers of all time. His writing is dark and sinister. He wrote of death, murder, psychosis, and obsession. One could only imagine what would bring a person to write such morbid stories. Perhaps, it may be attributed to Poe’s childhood, a past that was sad and far from average. Both of his parents died when he was only three years of age (Shelley). The death of his parents caused a separation from his siblings and he moved to liveRead MoreAnalysis Of The Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allen Poe1320 Words   |  6 PagesRory Spillane Mr. Bruno English IV period 8 1.29.15 Analysis of the Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He went on to become one of the most famous American poets and authors in history. 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In the first paragraph of the book, Humbert tells of Annabel Leigh, a â€Å"girl-child† he had loved â€Å"In a princedom by the sea† (Nabokov 9). These callbacks bear a laughingly close resemblance to Poe’s poem â€Å"Annabel Lee.† Their names are almost identical, too, inviting theRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe1630 Words   |  7 PagesThe Tell-Tale Heart is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It is told by anonymous narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of his sanity, while describing a murder he committed. The victim was an old man with a filmy vulture-eye (cataract eye), as the narrator calls it. The murder is carefully calculated, and the murderer dismembers the body and hides it under the floorboards. Ultimately the narrator s guilt manifests itself in the form of the sound ( hallucinatory) of the old man sRead MoreEssay on Creating Suspense in Edgar Allen Poes The Tell-Tale Heart2319 Words   |  10 PagesCreating Suspense in Edgar Allen Poes The Tell-Tale Heart In the gothic genre there are numerous techniques the author can use to add interest and suspense to a story, such as the choice of words, the time of day and pathetic fallacy, to name but a few. In the Tell Tale- Heart Poe uses psychosis, detail, and appeal to the reader to keep us on the edge of our seats. These are just some examples of what makes the story so thrilling. The story is written in the first person in the styleRead MoreI Became Insane, With Long Intervals Of Horrible Sanity Essay1986 Words   |  8 PagesEdgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe is an American poet well-known for his eerie and gothic based themes. In fact, his tales of mystery and horror were the first to give rise to detective stories. In his short story, â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† (1843), Poe invites us to experience a sinister and mystifying murder through the mind of the murderer, the narrator himself. This self-narrated tale takes place in a house that the narrator shares with an old man. The story’s focal characters are the narrator and theRead MoreEssay on Criminal Thoughts in Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales2035 Words   |  9 Pagesis profound— does not spring from disease of thought— from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.† (Poe 1) The topic of the madness always kept Edgar Allan Poe’s mind occupied. A lot of his works deal with the issue of sin, guilt and the criminal’s mind. In my paper I will demonstrate the different kinds of mentality of the guilty in Po e’s stories. Edgar Allan Poe is most well known for his Gothic, detective and mysterious stories. His inclination for writing about these