Examples Of Insanity In The Tell Tale Heart

In the story “The tell-tale heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, insanity is portrayed right in the beginning. The author allows the reader to see from the beginning to the end the insanity of the man. This story is told in first person and it becomes a problem throughout the story. The narrator becomes an unreliable narrator. The reader cannot fully trust the narrator, and believe he is telling the whole truth. Throughout the story, the man tries to tell or impose on the reader that he is sane. He tries to explain to the reader that if he were crazy would he do something that a normal person would do or say. Throughout, the reader can see the different levels of insanity the author is trying to portray. In the beginning, the man starts to justify
The man later states that one night as he was watching the old man, the old man moved and heard something. He states “Now he knew that Death was standing there.” The reader as well as the old man, now knows the time has come and that at any time the old man will be killed. The man later states, once he uncovered a bit of the cloth on the lantern, he was able to see the “vulture eye”. That was all he saw. In this the reader could see the crazy obsession and paranoia the man had with the old man’s eye. The man speaks of the old man’s eye as if it were an actual weapon that will harm him, or has harmed him in the
Poe starts the story with the man appearing crazy and ends with the man going crazy. Poe begins with the man’s actions and way of speaking not coming across as too crazy or insane. He allows the reader to create a evaluation of the man and have a well formed perception, without judgement. Although the author begins with the man trying to justify himself, the reader is not able to make a rational judgement without reading a bit more of the story. Throughout the story Poe allows the reader to get to know the man and allows the reader to decide whether or not he is a “madman”. The reader can assume the man is insane, although the author does not state the man is a madman. Because of this assumption, the narrator becomes unreliable. In most cases, first person narrator is not a reliable source. Because the narrator seems to be a madman, the reader has no choice but to doubt him. The narrator throughout the whole story is defending himself, without the reader knowing what he is defending himself