The Tell-Tale Heart
October 21, 2012
“The Tell-Tale Heart” Our versions of reality are disrupted in “The Tell-Tale Heart” as we might identify with it in many ways we do not acknowledge. Something flickers our inquisitiveness and compels us to follow the narrator through the disturbing labyrinth of his mind. The reader is also able to further question the narrator’s actions in a psychological aspect and possibly see the collapse of the human mind and how paranoia and insanity work in close cooperation. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, presents to the reader a psychological depiction of a narrator who describes his crime with detailed accounts. This Gothic short story shows the dim side of individuals. The story is narrated in first-person; as a result, the reader is not able to conclude a great deal of what the narrator is saying is true. Poe utilizes his words prudently throughout the story to expose a review of paranoia, insanity, and mental declination. The story is stripped of additional elements as a method to intensify the narrator’s fixation with certain and unembellished objects like the eye of the old man, the heartbeat, and his assertion to sanity. Even though the narrator constantly affirms that he is not insane, the reader could presume otherwise due to his bizarre way of thinking, actions, and dialogue. The narrator begins the story by focusing on the reader and stating that he is “nervous” not “mad.” In fact, this statement can be seen in the first two sentences of the story when he believes he must persuade the reader that he is not insane. “Very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (Poe). The narrator admits to having a “disease” that has “sharpened his senses.” “Hearing” is his most increased sense, and states to be able to hear everything going on in “heaven,” “earth,” and most of what’s going on in “hell.”According to him, this
“The Tell-Tale Heart” Our versions of reality are disrupted in “The Tell-Tale Heart” as we might identify with it in many ways we do not acknowledge. Something flickers our inquisitiveness and compels us to follow the narrator through the disturbing labyrinth of his mind. The reader is also able to further question the narrator’s actions in a psychological aspect and possibly see the collapse of the human mind and how paranoia and insanity work in close cooperation. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, presents to the reader a psychological depiction of a narrator who describes his crime with detailed accounts. This Gothic short story shows the dim side of individuals. The story is narrated in first-person; as a result, the reader is not able to conclude a great deal of what the narrator is saying is true. Poe utilizes his words prudently throughout the story to expose a review of paranoia, insanity, and mental declination. The story is stripped of additional elements as a method to intensify the narrator’s fixation with certain and unembellished objects like the eye of the old man, the heartbeat, and his assertion to sanity. Even though the narrator constantly affirms that he is not insane, the reader could presume otherwise due to his bizarre way of thinking, actions, and dialogue. The narrator begins the story by focusing on the reader and stating that he is “nervous” not “mad.” In fact, this statement can be seen in the first two sentences of the story when he believes he must persuade the reader that he is not insane. “Very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (Poe). The narrator admits to having a “disease” that has “sharpened his senses.” “Hearing” is his most increased sense, and states to be able to hear everything going on in “heaven,” “earth,” and most of what’s going on in “hell.”According to him, this
Cited: Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”