Critical Analysis of Poe's The Tell Tale Heart Essay examples

One might object here that the narrator lacked the mental capacity to distinguish right from wrong. The claim of mental insanity could be supported by the narrator’s abnormal hearing of the dead old man’s heart thumping. “...but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew-louder-louder-louder!” (Poe). It is correct that normal people do not hear dead people’s hearts beating, however, what he likely heard was the sound of his own heart ringing loudly in his ears due to his guilty conscience.

Referring from the text, the narrator explained, “Ha!—would a madman have been so wise as this?” In the beginning of the narrative, the slaughterer attempted to justify his sanity, which confirms that he can establish his own status. According to “The Tell-Tale Heart Insanity Plea”, no mentally unstable person could not perceive reality. “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution— with what foresight—with what dissimulation.” If the murderer was legally insane, he would not have had such a comprehensible memory of the crime, however he did indeed. Considering the belief that evil eyes had such misfortune upon it, the narrator can be considered balanced, for it perhaps caused injuries and nobody would desire for anything like an evil eye in proximity of them. Nonetheless, the murder himself confirmed his guilt with all the precautions he took, therefore, he should be sent to prison instead of receiving medical

Without that initial statement, why would we think him mad? Then he says; "Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing." How does he know that madmen know nothing? I wrote in my own journal once; "Insanity is not madness. Sanity is madness, if one can distinguish the difference between sanity and insanity, does that not then make you sane?" So then, if the narrator questions our thoughts on his sanity, he must then know the difference or that there is a difference between sanity and insanity, does that not then create some question as to his own sanity? I think from the very beginning he questioned his own sanity to himself thereby creating the question of insanity to the reader! Isn't that insane? (ha ha) But was he insane? Insane is defined in Webster's New Concise Dictionary as: "Not Sane; mentally deranged or unsound. Set apart for demented persons. Not Whole." OK, well we still cannot prove that he was or was not insane. Was he a psychopath? Some would say yes, most definitely. But what is a psychopath? Psychopaths have a character type that enables them to pursue pleasure with indifference to the suffering they cause others. Psychopaths are completely lacking such virtues as benevolence and compassion. In this story, the narrator says; "I loved the old man.

The narrator butchered the man. That is an indisputable fact. The question is, is he sane? The narrator stalked an innocent man for 8 nights, then brutally murdered and grotesquely dismembered him. He then proceeds to put the body parts under the floor boards. The narrator talks about his surprisingly logical thought process, the careful and perfect execution of his plan, and his terrible guilt as he could hear the dead man’s heart beat. The defense will tell you that this man is an innocent, sedentary man, and that everything he did was the fault of his mental illness, but do not listen to them. This man is deleterious, and it is imperative that he is locked away. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” was sane because he could distinguish fantasy from reality, he could feel guilt, and he was thinking logically. This evidence will prove that the narrator is sane.

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart" is a short story about how a murderer's conscience overtakes him and whether the narrator is insane or if he suffers from over acuteness of the senses. Poe suggests the narrator is insane by the narrator's claims of sanity, the narrator's actions bring out the narrative irony of the story, and the narrator is insane according to the definition of insanity as it applies to "The Tell Tale Heart".

The second reason why this man deserves justice is because he was obviously having some sort of mental breakdown at the time of his “crime”. He seems to be violently angry and very anxious. In the story, my client had just killed the old man and begins conversing with himself, “--do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror” (3). This quotes helps prove that the narrator is innocent for plea of insanity because he is showing another major symptom of a mental disease- anxious or violent outbursts. The man even admits to being nervous before he killed the old man. The quote also describes how the old man's dead heart still beating in the narrator's mind and is taking over his thoughts. My client also connects his hypnotic state to bringing him “uncontrollable terror”. This supports his symptoms of anxiety because it shows his mind being taken over by his nervousness. Towards the end of the text, the narrator feels too guilted and lets his anger get the best of himself, “I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually

“The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe, is a petrifying short story. Poe incorporated a variety of literary elements to intimidate the reader. Personification, theme, and symbols are combined to create a suspenseful horror story.

The narrator is constantly trying to prove his sanity, yet we can conclude that he actually, if not consciously, subconsciously understands he is going mad. He is the one that first puts the idea of him being mad in the reader?s mind, and he is the one that continually asks how it could be possible that he is mad, which shows that he himself is not sure. He?s trying to prove his sanity in such a desperate way, that I believe it is obvious he must have some idea of his insanity, otherwise he would just state his sanity, rather than trying to prove it.

I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the

Some readers may argue that the narrator is sane because he constantly explains that his actions are sane. However, the narrator is actually insane because the actions that he justifies are very abnormal. The narrator explains that he concealed the body by, “ First of all, [dismembering] the corpse. [He] cut off the head and the arms and the legs” (Poe l 133-134). Clearly, the narrator’s actions mentioned above are not normal. No sane person would be proud of how carefully they concealed a dead body. The narrator is just trying to explain his peculiar actions in a normal way, which he hopes will convince the reader he is sane. Although the narrator justifies himself, the actions he carried out are not even something a sane person would do, therefore making him insane.

Insanity, the true definition is doing something over and over again expecting the same result. It is a thing, that can affect a person and make them slightly off their rocker. The landlady seems like a sweet old lady until we find out that she takes her victims and stuffs them in her free time. While the narrator from the “Tell-Tale Heart” does nothing like this. He only kills his victim, and they may both kill someone, but the landlady kills multiple people. They may both be insane but the landlady is more so, because she poisons as well as stuffs her victims, kills more people than the narrator, and she keeps trophies of the people she kills and leaves them out in the rooms that they stayed in.

On the other hand, I could see why some say he is sane. In some parts of the story he is in his right mind. Like when he said, “But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wishing them gone.” (page four). I feel as if he had come to his senses and figured out what he did. So, while he was doing the murder, he didn’t know what he was doing. But, afterwards it hit him. He learned what he did.

Even during the time when the narrator was in the process of hiding the body, he does not find himself insane. The narrator speaks of how is was so cunning and intelligent enough to not get a spot of blood anywhere, of how he placed the boards of the floor precisely as they were before the murder.

Throughout “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allan Poe, tries to convey the central themes of guilt and insanity to the audience. How the narrator tells the story proves the theory completely. He tells his audience how he plans to kill the old man, and he takes them with him every step of the way. While telling the readers how he murders the man, he also assures them that he is not mad or insane. However, the readers know that he is crazy because he kills a harmless old man, that he claims to love, solely because he fears his eyeball. He is trying to convince himself of this, as well as, trying to convince his audience. Though he proves to have a mental incapability, he still shows signs of morality and guilt. The beating heart demonstrates this human quality that he obtains. When the narrator uses the lantern in his plan, he shows signs of

The audience should also notice within the first paragraph where the legal definition of insanity could also be applied. It is here where his words begin to contradict themselves. It is here where he starts to demonstrate a mad man, by accusing the audience of coming to the conclusion that he is mad. He then goes on to imply that if he were mad, he “would be out of control, …profoundly illogical, and not even recognize the implications of his