The Tell Tale Heart Conflict Essay
Throughout the course of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator encounters many stages of internal and external conflict. Psychologically, the aforementioned conflict is enhanced by three systems of the human psyche which inhabit the mind of every individual: the id, ego, and superego; each of which are factors in decision-making and morality. Characterization of the narrator of the story initially presents one character; however, throughout the progression of the text, the three aspects of the mind begin to appear as individual characters. The division of the systems is demonstrative of the psychological separation and opposition of the fragments of the mind. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” is physically and
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He succumbs to the desire to destroy the vulture eye, though he has no apprehensive attitudes towards the man whom the eye belongs to. The narrator feels no remorse as he intricately plans his roommate's murder and slides into his room each night in preparation for the intended task; the narrator is listless as he eagerly draws the covers over the old man’s head and smothers him, listening as the last breath escapes his lungs. Though he states that he “loved the old man,” he feels no guilt because he relied solely on the intuitiveness from his id; actions such as homicide satisfy the id, as it relies on and is fueled by drives such as violence (Poe 440). Regardless of his submission to the id, the narrator attempts to reason his sanity with the reader in his recount, revealing evidence of his ego. The ego serves as a balancing force which experiences similar drives to the id, but is shaped by external reality to satisfy the drives in a socially acceptable manner. He argues with little reason that he is not mad, giving the implication that he may be and proving the vulnerability and inferiority of the ego as both a character and a theme in Poe’s story. The ego only appears in the argumentative monologue because it is a minor character and theme in the short story which revolves around primitive and instinctual
He succumbs to the desire to destroy the vulture eye, though he has no apprehensive attitudes towards the man whom the eye belongs to. The narrator feels no remorse as he intricately plans his roommate's murder and slides into his room each night in preparation for the intended task; the narrator is listless as he eagerly draws the covers over the old man’s head and smothers him, listening as the last breath escapes his lungs. Though he states that he “loved the old man,” he feels no guilt because he relied solely on the intuitiveness from his id; actions such as homicide satisfy the id, as it relies on and is fueled by drives such as violence (Poe 440). Regardless of his submission to the id, the narrator attempts to reason his sanity with the reader in his recount, revealing evidence of his ego. The ego serves as a balancing force which experiences similar drives to the id, but is shaped by external reality to satisfy the drives in a socially acceptable manner. He argues with little reason that he is not mad, giving the implication that he may be and proving the vulnerability and inferiority of the ego as both a character and a theme in Poe’s story. The ego only appears in the argumentative monologue because it is a minor character and theme in the short story which revolves around primitive and instinctual