panel have come to be known as the M 'Naghten Rules, though they have gained any status only by usage in the common law and M 'Naghten himself would have been found guilty if they had been applied at his trial. The rules so formulated as M’Naghten’ s Case 1843 have been a standard test for criminal liability in relation to mentally disordered defendants in common law jurisdictions ever since, with some minor adjustments.
When the tests set out by the Rules are satisfied, the accused may be adjudged "not guilty by reason of insanity" or "guilty but insane.” (Wikipedia) In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” the unnamed narrator demonstrates how easily perspective can become distorted and the question becomes is he “not guilty by reason of insanity” which he strongly denies, or is he “guilty but insane” by which he cautiously premeditates an ingenuous plan …show more content…
to rid himself of the old man’s evil eye?
“Would a madman have been so wise as this?” (Poe) From the beginning, the exhortation that is used to portray the narrator’s sanity is compelling of his case but not convincing of his sanity. Poe’s literary style is classified as “horrific and psychological thrillers.” (Madi, Noor Abu) “The Tell-Tale Heart” could easily be interpreted as a confession to murder. The style by which it is cleverly written uses a play on words to build suspense and mystery placing the reader in the detective’s shoes, anxiously awaiting to find out what will happen next.
“In the Bible, the elevation of the self is linked to a subjective, narcissistic viewing process: the self sees not itself but only the splinter in the other’s eye.
The resulting lack of self-knowledge makes Edgar Allan Poe’s narrator in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ judge the old man based on his own (the narrator’s) affections, and not the truth. The deliberate misjudgment of the other can only mirror the “blindness of the self, signifying a lack of insight.” (Magdalen) Basically, seeing the fault in others while being blind to his own shortcomings is what the narrator is expressing. He became fixated with the vulture eye of the old man and in doing so he became motivated to murder the old
man.
“Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees-very gradually-I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” (Poe) In becoming fixated with the old man’s eye, he sees the old man and the eye as two separate beings.
“Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers-of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.” (Poe) The narrator feels as though he must brag about his cleaver deeds and concise plan.
“I smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done…The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. The eye would trouble me no more. If you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body.” (Poe)
If the narrator did not have a guilty conscience of his actions, he would not feel compelled to brag about his “deeds”. The protagonist point of view throughout the story enables the readers to see the old man through the eyes of the narrator again using exhortation to build his character’s qualities. However, in doing so, the narrator conveys to the readers that he is most definitely “guilty and insane.”
Works Cited
Freeland, Natalka. “One of an Infinite Series of Mistakes: Mystery, Influence, and Edgar Allan Poe.” Atq 10.2 (1996): Academic Search Premier. 16 Oct. 2013 .
Madi, Noor Abu and Shadi Neimneh. “The Single Thin Ray That Fell Upon the Vulture Eye.” Systematic Grammar and Its Use in Edgar Allan Poe 's "The Tell-Tale Heart" Studies in Literature and Language 6.3 (2013): 28+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 17 Oct. 2013 .
Magdalen, Wing-chi Ki. “Ego-Evil and the Tell-Tale Heart.” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 61.1 (2008): 25. Literature Resources from Gale. 16 Oct. 2013 .
“Diseases of the Mind.” Wikipedia. 20 Oct. 2013 .
Zimmerman, Brett. “Frantic Oratory: Poe 's 'The Tell-Tale Heart.” Spring 2001 Vol. 35, Issue 1 (2001): p34.16p. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2013 .