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The Tell-Tale Heart Insanity

Decent Essays

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a man is murdered and dismembered at the hand of an insane unnamed narrator. The narrator goes on to defend his sanity by pushing the audience question what it means to be sane. When an opportunity arises for the narrator to convince officers that all is normal, he collapses under the weight of his guilty conscious. The actions of the unnamed narrator illustrate an image of today’s society and its view of mental illnesses, but overall makes the audience question the meaning of insanity. Society sees mental illnesses as a plea for sympathy, not as a medical issue needing attention. “The disease has sharpened my senses-not destroyed-not dulled them” (387). Similarly, the narrator does not

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