The Narrator: Insanity

He shows signs of being a psychotic murderer and shows obsession, but yet tries to cover the insanity up by calling it “being wise”. If he can’t come to terms with his own mental sanity then how could anything he says be considered reliable? In the beginning of the short story, the narrator argues that he is not mad because of the simple fact he is able to tell his side of the story in such a calm manner. Another example to his insanity is at the end of the story while speaking with the police officers; he was hearing the heartbeat of the old man he just murdered. As a result of hearing the pounding heart, he revealed to the officers where the body of the old man was. A sane person wouldn’t have let a deceptive sound create his downfall. In addition to the narrator’s questionable sanity, the amount of time and effort he put into planning and executing the old man’s murder without reason further confirms how unreliable he

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

After the murder of the old man, the narrator cuts his limbs apart and stuffs him underneath the floorboards. While suffocating the old man, a noise is made and is heard by the neighbors. So the next thing that is heard by the narrator is the knocking on the door by the police. The narrator plays it cool and invites them and even takes them to the room in which the old man was under. He is perfectly content with them and makes small talk until the narrator notices a pounding sound. The narrator hears a beating that 's growing louder by the second, convinced that the officers can hear it as well, he confesses to the murder of the old man. Perfectly depicting the guilty conscious of the narrator, and thus proving that a guilty conscious will always overpower.

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

Poe proposes that the main character is insane by his declarations of sanity. For example, the narrator says that there is no way that he could be insane because he planned the murders so perfectly. In the story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, the main character states “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded--with what caution--with what foresight--with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week I killed him” (388). This quote shows how the narrator actually thinks that he is sane because of the acts that he partakes in during the week that he was going to kill the old man. Another example of this comes from the article, “Ego-Evil and The Tell-Tale Heart”, written by Magdalen Wing-chi Ki, where it notes “In Poe’s stories, Ego-Evil stands out because his hero’s frame of mind is utterly corrupt at its root: the villain can recognize his deviance through the other;

The assisting quote is, “In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done.” This consists of several crucial fragments of information, one being that the initial sentence instantaneously bombards you with pure action and fear. This bombardment of absolute terror is done by the author using fast-paced words, such as, “instant,” or words of outright exertion, such as, “dragged,” instead of pulled, and because of the utilization of these words the author generates a hasty environment where you obtain the impression that the main character (narrator) has adrenaline pumping throughout his body and veins. Correspondingly, upon the first sentence the atmosphere is teeming with great suspension and apprehension, yet as the narrator continues to speak and reaches the following sentence, it immediately seems as if all of that adrenaline and excitement collapse to a level of genuine tranquility as he, “smiled gaily,” clarifying that the anxiety that had once vexed the psychopathic man has perished, never to be uncovered again. Next, this intricate quote is capable of being discovered virtually at the foundation of pg. 299, at the time the narrator illustrates the murder of the innocent elderly gentleman. Finally, this

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.

Moreover, he tries to defend his sanity by explaining how wise and cautious he was as he was preparing for the murder. Every night he checked on the old man to make sure he got everything right and get ready to execute his plan. The narration lacks of a concrete explanation of the person or place to which it is addressed, which leaves much room for interpretation for the readers. What we can infer from the story is it is not addressed to the police officers since the narrator says he was successful in making them satisfied. Finally, the climax of the story comes as the revelation of the dead body hidden under the planks. Because the story is told as a memento, our estimation might be that the narrator is addressing a court official or personage who may influence over the judgment of the narrator. Therefore, the story that the narrator is telling is most accurately realized as an appeal for mercy rather than just being an appeal to be thought sane.

He watched the man sleep every night and he claimed that he heard noises, how can you possibly thing that the narrator is not insane? I believe he is insane due to his actions. He killed a man because of his eye then dismembered his corpse and then he said he hears noises. The narrator murdered an old man that was sleeping in his house, an old man that was probably his friend. The man had a vulture eye, a pale blue eye with a film over it. He murdered the old man because of his pale blue vulture eye. In the beginning of text, he said, “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never insulted me. I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this!...Whenever it fell upon on me, my blood ran cold…I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” This quote demonstrates how insane the narrator is. He killed the old man because of his hatred for the man’s eye. No normal human will do such deed for that reason.

The theme of insanity is alluded to via symbolism. The old man’s eye takes on a particular significance as the Narrator often refers to it as a “vulture eye”, saying the old man “had the eye of a vulture”. In nature, vultures hunt and prey on dead or dying animals. Similarly, perhaps the Narrator feels as though the eye

The label “insanity” is reserved for people whose behaviors fall well outside the boundaries of normal social interaction. Edgar Allan Poe, the author of The Tell-Tale Heart, wrote about an unnamed narrator who goes through a lot. The narrator lives with an old man who he says has an evil eye. The narrator feels threatened by the eye and will not stop until it is at rest. The narrator ends up killing the man, chopping up his body, and putting it under the floorboards.

Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees – very gradually –I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” How could he be sane if he thinks that the old man’s eye is evil? Moreover, if he wanted to kill that old man, he could’ve killed him at the first night. However, only on the eighth night he saw the old man’s “vulture eye”, and then he killed him.

If the narrator was criminally insane he wouldn’t admit or for that matter even know what he did and why. People will still argue that the killer could say that he knew what he did and that he isn’t insane, but in all reality he is and just is too crazy to know the difference. And the final reason one could believe the killer is certainly guilty of premeditated murder because he chopped the old man’s body up and hid the pieces after he murdered

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.