Comparing Self-Delusion In Tell-Tale Heart And The Wizard Of Lies

One central idea shown throughout the “Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe and the excerpt from The Wizard of Lies by Diana Henriques is how self-delusion is the most basic way of escaping reality and is remarkably prominent in everyone's life. Though both texts strongly develop this theme throughout their course, they both use different tactics towards achieving the final message; adding to the theme by telling the reader about how self-delusion can lead to division among subsets of people. Henriques’ text shows self-delusion in a more relatable and frequent way- through the depiction of a thought process sane people take daily, particularly one in reference to an infamous Ponzi scheme by Bernie Madoff. The “Tell-Tale Heart” displays self-delusion

For example, the “Tell-Tale Heart” tells of a man who, due to his mental illness, unwittingly deludes himself. He has murdered his neighbor and hears the ever-growing beating of the dead man's heart. His mental disorder is heavily alluded to in a mix of psychological, cognitive and mental symptoms. One of the most prominent psychological symptoms in our narrator is hallucinations, which are described by the National Institute of Mental Health as hearing things that are not real. Line _ , taking place after Poe had killed the man, states “Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant.” Our narrator is hearing the incessant beating of a heart that isn't functioning- clearly an auditory hallucination. Another psychological symptom he experiences are delusions, mainly described as believing something that isn’t true, which could take for in the belief others are out to ‘get them’ or are making fun of them in some manner. When talking to the police, who suspected nothing, the narrator thinks “And still the men chatted pleasant, and smiled, Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!--no,no! They heard!--they suspected! -- they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!” This sheer delusion in the narrator combined with his hallucinations suggests either a schizophrenic or

This texts strays from the message of division between immoral and moral, and instead focus on the division between morality and societal placement. Obviously, this pattern of cyclic self-delusion would be, in a sense, more obligatory for a schizophrenic, but it is still just as apparent in the sane. Self-delusion is shown foremost in the way our narrator seemingly forces himself to believe that his actions are justified. He states “It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!” His self-delusion is evident, simply highly warped and intensified. However, unlike most people, who use self-delusion to judge others around them, the narrator utilizes self-delusion to preserve his own perceived self-image. He questions why we think he is mad after he murders his neighbor. Knowing something is amiss appears to not alarm our narrator,he chalks it up to ‘heightened senses’. As the text continues, he emphasizes his own perceived superiority. He states “that no human eye...could have detected anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that.” His delusions grow from questioning to confident. Perhaps this is the defining difference between denial of the sane and insane- not the delusion itself, but