Essay On The Tell Tale Heart
Character Analysis of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe is a suspenseful short story. In the story the main character, the narrator, kills an old man. He only kills the old man because his eye troubles the narrator. Throughout the story, the narrator stalks the old man nightly, looking for his open eye and eventually kills the old man by suffocating him. He dismembers his body, and hid the parts under the floorboards. The police later come to the house and investigate, but find nothing. The narrator, while confidently talking to the police, starts hearing the beating of the old man’s heart, but it is all in the narrator’s head. He eventually gets very overwhelmed by the noise that only he can hear. He reveals to the police what he did and
…show more content…
where he hid the body. Poe’s main character, the narrator, is a man who is both confident and paranoid throughout the trouble and triumph of the story. Poe’s narrator is clearly confident, and this is evident in the story when the main character casually lets the police sit down with him in the place where he killed the old man. The narrator declares, “In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim” (Poe lines 123-126). Poe creates a character with abundant self confidence to make the story more ironic. In the story, the narrator felt confident after he was done putting the corpse under the floorboards, but his arrogance caused him to be oblivious as to how his actions could affect him, after the murder was done.
Poe’s character is also paranoid.
The uneasy behavior of the narrator can be supported by textual evidence, when the main character was worried about the police hearing the beating of the old man’s heart. The narrator dreadfully states, “Still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? - no, no! They heard! - they suspected! - they knew! - they were making a mockery of my horror!” (Lines 146-147) Poe uses punctuation and repetition in these sentences to emphasize the narrator’s paranoia. Luckily, in the end, the main character admits his deed, because he can not handle the paranoia, guilt, and derision any longer. If the narrator did not admit his deed, the beating of the old man’s heart could have haunted him forever.
Through reading Poe’s short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” it is clear that Poe had a rough childhood based upon his ideas displayed in the story. Also, the narrator had instability in the way he thought since he wanted to kill the old man, just because he was troubled by his eye. The main character’s lack of humility caused him pain in the end of the story, therefore his overpowering self confidence did nothing for him in the end
result.
where he hid the body. Poe’s main character, the narrator, is a man who is both confident and paranoid throughout the trouble and triumph of the story. Poe’s narrator is clearly confident, and this is evident in the story when the main character casually lets the police sit down with him in the place where he killed the old man. The narrator declares, “In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim” (Poe lines 123-126). Poe creates a character with abundant self confidence to make the story more ironic. In the story, the narrator felt confident after he was done putting the corpse under the floorboards, but his arrogance caused him to be oblivious as to how his actions could affect him, after the murder was done.
Poe’s character is also paranoid.
The uneasy behavior of the narrator can be supported by textual evidence, when the main character was worried about the police hearing the beating of the old man’s heart. The narrator dreadfully states, “Still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? - no, no! They heard! - they suspected! - they knew! - they were making a mockery of my horror!” (Lines 146-147) Poe uses punctuation and repetition in these sentences to emphasize the narrator’s paranoia. Luckily, in the end, the main character admits his deed, because he can not handle the paranoia, guilt, and derision any longer. If the narrator did not admit his deed, the beating of the old man’s heart could have haunted him forever.
Through reading Poe’s short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” it is clear that Poe had a rough childhood based upon his ideas displayed in the story. Also, the narrator had instability in the way he thought since he wanted to kill the old man, just because he was troubled by his eye. The main character’s lack of humility caused him pain in the end of the story, therefore his overpowering self confidence did nothing for him in the end
result.