Reasons Of The Heart: An Analysis Of Pascal's Wager

Pascal said that we can't know certain truth, but reason is the best source of

“True! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (Poe) In “Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe illustrates that the narrator has an acute need of the old man’s vulture eye and eventually murders the man on the eighth night. The author highlights the events of the murder and soon, the narrator confesses to the police of his guilt. As Edgar Allan Poe fabricates this short story, he enthralls the readers by giving the events specific detail. If Edgar Allan Poe were to ever continue the story where the narrator would be put on trial, he would be guilty of premeditated murder. The reason for this is because the narrator cunningly planned the murder, had a motive of killing the old man, and finally at the end of the short story, he knew from right to wrong.

Writers can use many tricks to make a story seem more interesting to the reader. From the words they pick to the setting to the time of the day... the possibilities are endless. In the story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, the use of light and darkness, the description of the mans eye and the time frame make the story more scary than anything else. Poe also uses suspense at the end to make the readers heart beat faster.

A person that brutally killed four people, and unaware of the very fact that he is the one that murdered all of them. “Strawberry Spring” by Stephen King is a story that takes place at New Sharon college, at the start of strawberry spring, and the narrator tells the story about how there is a killer on the college campus, and in the end we find out he is the killer. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story from the perspective of a mentally ill woman, who is on a summer stay at a colonial mansion, and her husband makes her stay in a bedroom to treat her mental illness, however the result is compromised due to the wallpaper in the room making her feel more ill than ever before. Lastly “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar

Robert South once said “Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal.” As this quote describes, guilt is terrible to feel and can drive a man insane. This is shown in the Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart.” In the story, the narrator explains how he isn’t insane and just smart. He also says that he loved the old man, but had to kill him because of his one flaw, his vulture eye. He was so confident that he ignored his conscience and killed him. He hid the body under the floorboards so the police would have no evidence when they came. The narrator had committed the perfect crime but his heart beat with guilt and drew him insane to the point where he tore up the floorboards and confessed himself. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe uses symbols such as the narrator’s heart, the old man’s eye, and the narrator’s confidence to demonstrate a man’s fight with his conscience.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: there can be many different perspectives seen in a poem. One individual could read a poem as depressing and another can perceive it as a new beginning. One’s views rests on individual perspectives. For example, Edgar Allen Poe’s writing is dark and controversial. In my essay I will argue that Poe was not in his right mind and he was driven mad with evidence throughout his short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”.

Janet Portman, an attorney, claims that 1% of defendant's offer an insanity defense in less than 1% of all felony cases, and are successful only about one-quarter of the time. Although, I can guarantee this man is crazy. In ‘Tell Tale Heart”, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, one is telling us how he killed another old man. The old man had cardiacs in one eye, the man who is describing him is telling us that the old man’s eye was as a vulture’s eye, and how it would run his blood cold whenever it fell upon him. The narrator decided to kill him, and once he had and hid the body the police came and he was cool for a while then he started to get uncomfortable then told the police he did it, he killed the man. While some may claim that the

James(1897) argues that certain actions and convictions need pre-existing beliefs which do not require sufficient evidence. He uses Pascal’s Wager as an example – James (1897) argues Pascal’s Wager may force individuals in choosing to either believe in God or not, regardless of there being sufficient evidence to prove the existence of the former or latter. However, James (1897) argues that different propositions

Imagine your grandfather's life was taken by the hands of his caretaker, trusted and responsible for his actions the caretaker. The caretaker was never put behind bars for his actions and was put in a mental hospital for four years and then he was free again. Is this the reality we want to live in, where killers can be kept for two years and then let loose into society? This is unacceptable and this treatment of killers cannot be kept the same. This is what happened to an old man, taken in the night by his caretaker.

In his lecture, “The Will to Believe,” William James addresses how one adopts a belief. There is a hypothesis and an option, where you choose between two live hypotheses. An option has the characteristics to be live or dead, forced or avoidable, and momentous or trivial. In his thesis, James argues how “our passional nature” must make our decisions about our beliefs when they cannot be certainly determined on “intellectual grounds,” however, this is not the case, we can always make the decision based on intellectual grounds. One can use Bayesian probability to gain some grasp of the situation and eventually to make a decision.

The Tell Tale Heart' is a story about a man who killed an old man just

     In Edgar Allan Poe’s short-story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the storyteller tries to convince the reader that he is not mad. At the very beginning of the story, he asks, "...why will you say I am mad?" When the storyteller tells his story, it's obvious why. He attempts to tell his story in a calm manner, but occasionally jumps into a frenzied rant. Poe's story demonstrates an inner conflict; the state of madness and emotional break-down that the subconscious can inflict upon one's self.

     Pascal goes on to state that once we have made this rational decision to believe in God then we start to act like we believe in this god and from practicing these actions habitually your belief will strengthen Pascal, 78). The problem here lies in the basis of the strength for this belief. To make a decision and then act on that decision seems pretty consistent; but, to make a decision and have that decision become a belief based on habitual actions does not follow at all. Is this belief that your holding to a product of sincerity of habit? If you start to act you

nothing’ (Rohmann, 299). Jean-Jacques Rousseau had a more original solution to Pascal’s problem. He believed that human beings are not born of and in original sin but are born good and are corrupted by society (Rohmann, 347). ‘Thus salvation comes through the social contract. Man must save himself’ (Rempel).

I enjoyed reading Pascal’s wager so much that I decided to write my paper on him. I’m going to dig deeper into his background and answer key questions like what is the relationship between faith and knowledge? Is faith in god justified? Why? How? In matters of faith and relationship with God, is the question of the existence of God even relevant? Why or Why not? I am going to answers these key questions in the upcoming paragraphs. I will briefly explain the argument of Pascal’s wager and the reasoning behind it. Is there a God? Should I believe in God? People think about this question everyday. Pascal is famous, among other things for his wager argument. It was a groundbreaking theory at that time. It’s basically a risk vs