The Tell Tale Heart Mental Illness

In the story The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, The author puts a lot of emphasis on the heart. But what can we infer about the heart? In the story Poe’s character claims to the audience that he was very nervous about the situation but was not insane. He claimed to have a ‘disease’ that made his hearing extra sensitive.  Every night the narrator suspiciously stalks this old man who has this mysterious blue eye with a film over it. The narrator soon feels entrapped by this eye and decides to kill the old man to be set free.

In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allan Poe illustrates how obsession can quickly turn into madness and destroy its victim and those connected to them. The narrator tries to convince us that he is in full control of his thought yet he is experiencing a condition that causes him to be over sensitive. Throughout the story we can see his obsession proving his insanity. The narrator claims that he can be a bit anxious and over emotional, he is not insane. He tries to give proof this through the calmness of his tone as he tells this tale. He then explains how although he has much love for an old man who has always treated him kind, he

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.

Salvador Dali once said “There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad.” The personality of the main character in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is that of a madman even though he is in denial about it. The narrator tries to show this through examples. Poe suggests that the main character is crazy by narrator’s claims of sanity, the narrator’s actions, and the narrator hears things that are not real.

Edgar Allan Poe said “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” Throughout his short stories; “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe sets up his characters to subconsciously reveal their insanity. Often using syntax clues and patterns, Poe shows the madness of the narrators of his short stories. The constant theme of denial of insanity further convinces the reader of the character’s psychosis. Characters themselves often prove they are not in touch with reality through their actions. Through syntax, denial of insanity, and character’s actions, Poe allows his narrators in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” to reveal their own insanity.

1.Why do you think Poe has set his story at night time, in the night?

At the start of this story, the narrator recognizes that he has been ill but don’t have lost control of his mind, and instead the illness have increased his feelings, “True!—I am nervous—very nervous! But don't say I am mad. The disease had sharpened my senses—not dulled them—especially my hearing. I could hear everything in heaven and in hell” (Poe). The narrator states that he can hear everything from heaven and in hell. These signs are a clear sign of insanity, to be specific, this happens to people with schizophrenia. Exist cases where persons are completely sure that hear voices, and tell them to do certain things. For example, how the Schizophrenia and violent behavior study

Imagine a world where the most insane people in literature came to life. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story by Edgar Allen Poe where a mad man stalks, and eventually kills, an old man just because of the old man’s eye. “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” is poem by Emily Dickinson portraying the path the narrator’s brain took to becoming insane. Both pieces show insanity well but one prevails. Edgar Allen Poe shows insanity most effectively by creating suspense in the story.

I strongly believe that The Tell-Tale Heart is the most inappropriate, violent and hypocritical book middle school students should not be reading! In the book, the narrator--or as we may think of as the killer--watches an old man--with a pale blue eye-- every night about midnight. One, night, he creaks the door open and wakes the man up! Now, the old man is scared, so the narrator stood there for a whole hour,after shining the light in his eye,he smothers the old man and dismembers his body. This is why The Tell-Tale Heart is inappropriate for my age group.

Has a vulture eye cause mental disorder on someone? First off, The tell-tale heart by Edgar Allen Poe explains about a murder an unmade narrator committed and convince all readers about his sanity. The unnamed narrator start off by explaining the story that he’s is nervous but not mad. Next, the author uses plot, theme to create the story with anxiety by saying he want to kill the old man. The narrator wants to kill the old man because he can’t stand to see his ugly evil eye of a vulture. In the tell tall heart it illustrates that a person may act and talk normal but in the inside of his body he acts in a mental illness state of mind. By simply answering these question, how is the story relevant in historical, social,

Tell-Tale Heart is a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. The entire story is a confession of a brutal murder with no rational motive. The narrator repeatedly tries to convince the audience he hasn’t gone mad though his actions prove otherwise. To him his nervousness sharpens his senses and allows him to hear things from heaven Earth and hell. The narrator planned to kill his roommate whom had never wronged him and had loved dearly because he felt his pale blue eye was tormenting him. The narrator claims “his eye resembles that of a vulture.” The madman then goes on to explain how when the eye is on him his blood turns cold, and he has to get rid of the eye forever. He sneaks into his roommate’s room for seven nights at midnights and shines a

The first symptom displayed by the narrator is his impulsiveness. “With aloud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room.” claims the narrator. Along with this abrupt motion, there are several where the narrator indulges in“high risk behaviors” throughout the story. This quote shows how the narrator acts on impulse rather than logic. “Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! - tear up the planks! - here, here! - it is the beating of his hideous heart!”, exclaims the narrator. In this excerpt, the narrator jumps up

Would consider a guy with a mental disease mad or sane? Most people would consider that person mad? What if he kills a guy over an eyeball. What about then, is he mad? Well the narrator in the “Tell Tale Heart” has a mental disease and he does kill a guy over an eyeball. So, mad or sane?

In Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator explains how he is not mad, how cautious he is in planning a murder. A person can argue however with the narrator of ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, which he is indeed mad. The anxiety the narrator experiences through out the story makes him mad, it is also the guilt that brought on more anxiety to the narrator at the end of the story. The narrator constantly speaks of how he is not mad; he constantly as the reader why would they think he is mad. “True! –nervous-very, very, dreadfully nervous. I had been and still am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (Poe 884). The narrator does not believe that he is a mad man, much less have any mental issues. In “Overview: ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’” the