The Tell Tale Heart Literary Analysis

Villains and heroes are the fabric of human culture. These sides of good and evil are seen in books, films, and everywhere in-between. For example, an iconic figure in American pop culture is the superhero, Superman. On the other side, villains such as Lizzie Borden, and the narrator from The Tell-Tale Heart allude to humanities dark side. The significance of villains and heroes are they encompass society’s hopes and fears. The rise of a hero represents a possible bright future, but an evil villain entails our dark past and possible dark future. The important characteristics of villains are that they spread fear and cause harm, meanwhile heroes are saviors who put others above themselves, have attributes we wish we had and that is why heroes
In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator installs fear into the heart of the sick old man. As an example the narrator states, “Presently I hear a slight grown, and I know it is the groan of mortal terror” (Poe 405). This installation of fear is key for villains because it is what gives them control over others. Fear is such an important characteristic for villains because, “Fear is an intense emotional state” (Strickland 245). This strong emotional state leaves the victim defenseless and unable to protect themselves against the villain. This is seen when the narrator kills the old man as, “The old man shrieks…gets dragged to the floor… and dies” (Poe 405). The narrator illustrates why fear is such an important trait for a villain. Another example of fear is seen in The Fall River Axe Murders. Fear is clear after the family deals with a burglary. After the burglary, the family is fearful primarily the father of another burglary. The defense was to, “lock everything and then lock it again, to lock and re-lock everything and then lock it up once more for luck” (Carter 217). Fear is not brought by a typical burglar but is brought by Lizzy Borden the evidence is seen as, “It is well-known… that Lizzie suffers from occasional “peculiar spells”” (Carter 215). These peculiar spells are what drive Lizzy to burglarize the house and cause fear for her family. Lizzy is the untraditional villain as she causes fear to her family subconsciously because she is mentally-ill. So when Lizzy burglarizes the house, she is not fully aware of her crime. Fear is an important characteristic for a villain because it is what powers them over other people and potentially over