The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe Essay - 1035 Words

Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, a short story about internal conflict and obsession, showcases the tortured soul due to a guilty conscience. The story opens with an unnamed narrator describing a man deranged and plagued with a guilty conscience for a murderous act. This man, the narrator, suffers from paranoia, and the reason for his crime is solely in his disturbed mind. He becomes fixated on the victim’s (the old man’s) eye, and his conscience forces him to demonize the eye. Finally, the reader is taken on a journey through the planning and execution of a murder at the hands of the narrator. Ultimately, the narrator’s obsession causes an unjust death which culminates into internal conflict due to his guilty conscience. The†¦show more content†¦The cold and calculating confession is due to the fact that the narrator has detached himself from all sense of normal remorse. His madness has rendered him unable to control ordinary emotions. Instead, he is left begging the reader to praise his cunningly accomplished acts. The narrator states, â€Å"You should have seen me,† and then implores again, â€Å"You should have seen how wisely I proceeded – and with what caution – with what foresight – with what dissimulation I went to work!† (Poe 923). It is apparent to the reader, or anyone of sound mind, that this man is suffering a mental breakdown due to obsessive paranoia. What triggered his obsession with the victim is something so simple it cannot be justified. It was the victim’s eye! The motivation for murder according to the narrator was â€Å"not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye† (Poe 922). However, it is possible that the eye symbolizes a necrosis of the narrator’s spirit. The narrator uses terms such as â€Å"infuriate†, â€Å"hideous†, â€Å"vulture† and â€Å"dammed† when describing the eye (Poe 923). These w ords are often used to describe the demonization of individuals who commit irrational crimes against humanity, such as the crime our narrator is confessing to, the murder and dismemberment of an innocent old man in his sleep. In â€Å"The Physiognomical Meaning of Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’†, Edward W. Pritcher states â€Å"itShow MoreRelatedThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe1161 Words   |  5 PagesOut of a vast quantity of these English historians, one stood out to me, his name is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s writing had its own unique gothic and horror style. The story, The Tell-Tale Heart is one of his very popular pieces of literature, it not only tells a story, but uses Poe’s unique style of writing to silently incorporate different genres, themes, and symbolism to create a sub-story within the text itself. Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. At the young age of just 2 yearsRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe1569 Words   |  7 PagesIn the short story â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† author Edgar Allan Poe employs several literary devices such as symbolism, allegory, and imagery. These devices enable us to see and better comprehend the story’s events through the eyes of the narrator. The narrator explains that he is extremely nervous but clarifies that he is not insane; he even goes so far as to share an event from his past to prove that he is not crazy. He believes that he loves the old man and has nothing against him except his horribleRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe Essay1477 Words   |  6 Pagesyourself and others that you weren’t in the wrong for doing something bad? Well, the narrator in the story The Tell-Tale Heart does. Edgar Allan Poe is known to write stories that are of Dark Romanticism. Dark romanticism is a literary genre that showcases gothic stories that portray torture, insanity, murder, and revenge. The story â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† is no different. Edgar Allan Poe does a great job with making the readers wonder throughout this short story. This allegory makes reader’s questionsRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe986 Words   |  4 Pagesbade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream.† The Tell Tale Heart is one of Edger Allan Poe’s most famous and creepiest stories. The premise of this gothic short story is that a man’s own insanity gives him away as a murderer. By usi ng the narrators own thoughts as the story Poe displays the mental instability and the unique way of creating a gothic fiction. While other stories written by Poe reflect this same gothic structure and questionable sanity, this story has aRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe1502 Words   |  7 PagesThe author Edgar Allan Poe created a beautiful writing piece called â€Å"Tell Tale Heart†, which included literal elements such as mood, tone, and point of view. The story included a tremulous mood for the reader to be able to feel the excitement of the story. According to the text â€Å"Tell Tale Heart†, it states â€Å"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.† This illustrates that the details of the storyRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe1030 Words   |  5 PagesA Guilty- Mad Heart â€Å"Burduck then goes on to ponder how Poe used cultural anxieties and psychological panic to advantage.† (Grim Phantasms, G.A. Cevasco). In The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, a nameless man narrates the story of how he murdered an elderly man because of his eyes. In his short story The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe shows the themes of guilt and the descent into madness through the narrator, in this gothic horror story. Edgar Allan Poe wrote many gothic tales throughout his lifeRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe1133 Words   |  5 Pages Written in 1843, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe incorporates nearly all of the gothic elements. While this piece of art may not contain all of the gothic elements, it is the epitome of a gothic short story. In The Tell-Tale Heart, the setting seems to be inside an old house, which strengthens the atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The madness and overall insanity of the narrator illustrates the sense of high, overwrought emotion. The presence of creaking hinges and the darkness representRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe1644 Words   |  7 Pages Edgar Allan Poe was a prominent American writer whose writing reflected his tragic life. He began to sell short stories for profit after being forced to leave United States Military Academy for lack of financial support. Over the next decade, Poe published some of his best-known works, including The Fall of the House of Usher (1839), The Raven (1845), and The Cask of Amontillado (1846). It is in these stories that Po e established his unique dark writing style that often have the recurring themeRead MoreThe Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe879 Words   |  4 PagesIn between guilt, paranoia and obsession The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe uses several literary elements to support the themes of the story. The story is based on a gruesome murder of an old man. The author uses madness, obsession and guilt as themes to prove how the narrator is truly twisted and insane. Madness is the first theme of the story; in the beginning the narrator tries to convince the audience he is not mad (insane). â€Å"TRUE!... nervous very, very nervous I had been and am; but whyRead MoreA Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe1156 Words   |  5 Pagescontain some level of madness. For example in the short stories â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† by Edgar Allan Poe, both of the main character in these stories believe that they are perfectly wise, but their out of control behaviors proves that they’re mentally ill or to be more specific insane. In the short story â€Å"A tell-tale heart† the unknown narrator is telling us a story about his neighbor who is an old man but his of a vulture: blue pale eye is what