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Comparing and contrasting the tell tale heart
Comparing and contrasting the tell tale heart
Interpreting the tell-tale heart
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The Tell-Tale Heart What is sit to be insane? The legal definition of insanity at Law.com states, “Mental disorder… a person who cannot distinguish fantasy from reality…” In the tell-tale heart, a story written by Edgar Allen Poe, The Narrator (the main character) plots to kill The Old Man. His reason being: he believes the old mans “vulture” eye had cursed him. The Narrator is constantly defending his sanity but evidence can prove otherwise. The Narrator has a manner of speaking that is repetitive. For instance on page 523, “but why will you say that I am mad?” and “You fancy me mad.” He continues to repeat this throughout the story. As the story progresses, the desperation in The Narrator begins to eat at him, wearing away at his cool exterior. On page 523, “Madmen know nothing,” and then providing more and more examples to prove his cleverness. The Narrator is so set on convincing us that he is not insane, but what is the reason behind all of his defenses? The reason is simple. The Narrator associates being insane with having low intelligence and clings to what he believes is “sanity” because he is afraid to admit or even consider otherwise. …show more content…
The Narrator also appears to have a clouded state of mind, filled with hallucinations.
For example, “The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them… I heard many things in the heaven…Earth… I heard many things in Hell (pg.522). The Narrator has stated to have a disease that has affected his perception of reality. Furthermore, The Narrator seems to have skewed morals. For example on page 523, “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me … for his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!” The Narrator had planned to kill The Old Man simply because he was not fond of his eye. He was so easily swayed to kill because he thought The Old Man’s Eye had cursed him. This man acts on impulse and has no
self-control. For some, actions may speak louder than words. For instance on page 523, “I did this for seven long nights.” The Narrator stalks The Old Man for an entire week and watches him while he sleeps. The Narrators absolute obsession with The Old Man’s eye controls and guides The Narrators actions. The Narrator also has a violent side to him. Such as, “First of all, I dismembered the corpse.” When he finally succeeds in killing The Old Man, he realizes that he has to conceal the body and decides to do so in the most gruesome way possible; He cuts up the body and places it under the floorboards. On the other hand some might argue that The Narrator is guilty of murder and not insanity, because he knew perfectly well what he was doing and what this intentions were. Although he was fully aware of what he was doing, it makes him no less guilty of insanity. A person over burdened with insanity is governed body and mind by their own impulses and not reason. The Narrator displays all symptoms of being insane; and so he is.
Despite of this information, how he is a calculated killed, in paragraph 2 it reads,” Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me.” A person who is mentally insane can have uncomfortable behaviors and this information shows that he had nothing against the old man. Therefore, the narrator acted on impulsive behavior and can be described as mentally
Moreover, the diction of the narrator and his repeated pleas to the reader to believe this thought, while not truly convincing, serve as a means to support his case. He asks, ”How, then, am I mad?” and “but why will you say that I am mad?” Beyond what could be considered a maniacal monologue, the narrator’s creepy fascination with the old man’s eye further distinguishes mental illness. What is described as “a pale blue eye, with a film over it” is, in all probability, a cataract, which is not nearly as evil as
Many who are considered mad by others, would not consider themselves to be this way. Written by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story of a murder. A theme that shows in this short story would be the line between sanity and insanity is blurred. At the beginning, the narrator says, “but why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them” (Poe par. 1). The narrator does not believe he has gone mad, but rather the opposite. He describes his senses becoming
In a time when all one has to do is say they hear voices to be labeled insane, by claiming the was hearing things made it very easy for the defendant to have an “excuse” to fall back on. Hearing voices is not the only thing that the defendant exaggerates on. He goes into great depth speaking of his sense of super hearing, for instance, being able to hear from both the heavens and from hell. “I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell” (Poe p. 1245). He also said he was hearing the old man’s heart beat. Through out his story there are many exaggerations. The defendant also speaks of being able to stay perfectly still for over an hour while holding a lantern. “For a whole hour I did not move a muscle . . .” (1246). It is humanly impossible to stand perfectly still for over an hour especially while holding a lantern. If one were to attempt this stunt they would merely last fifteen to twenty minutes before giving up from exhaustion. These over exaggera...
Through the use of insanity as a metaphor, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, William Blake, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, introduced us to characters and stories that illustrate the path to insanity from the creation of a weakened psychological state that renders the victim susceptible to bouts of madness, the internalization of stimuli that has permeated the human psyche resulting in the chasm between rational and irrational thought, and the consequences of the effects of the psychological stress of external stimuli demonstrated through the actions of their characters.
In the first place, I fathom the narrator is insane because he is proven ill. For instance, there are many clues throughout “The Tell Tale Heart” that despite the
The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator realizes that he absences a reason for killing the old man he lives with. He even starts to admit having to love the man. He states, “There was no reason for what I did. I did not hate the old man; I even loved him. He had never hurt me. I did not want his money. I think it was his eye” (Poe 64). Psychosis is seen in the difficult rationality the narrator uses to defend his murder. The logic the narrator provides is that he thinks the desire to murder the old man results from the man’s eye, which bothers him. He says, “When the old man looked at me with his vulture eye a cold feeling went up and down my back; even my blood became cold. And so, I finally decided I had to kill the old man and close that eye forever!” (Poe 65). The fact that by this man’s eye is what makes him very angry is such a irrelevant reason for the narrator to kill him. This proves that he is not mentally stable, anyone in their right state of mind would not want to commit such a crime due to an irritation of someone’s eye. This represents the idea that this narrator expresses his complete lack of sanity through the premeditation and planning he put into committing the murder. In the beginning of the story, he says “vulture eye” giving the impression that he is uncertain that the eye is the reason for the murder, he also says how he thinks it’s the eye, he uses past tense as opposed to declaring with certainty that this is why the killing of the man. This shows the contrast to how as a sane person would be sure that this is their reason for killing another person before committing.
How can we justify a man is mad or not? A man may talk like a wise man, and yet act like a mad man. In Poe’s "The Tell-Tale Heart", the narrator depicted a story that he killed the old man because of the old man’s so-call "evil eye" which made his blood run cold. Althought the narrator tried to persuade the reader that he was normal, several pieces of evidence of confusing illusion and reality adequately indicates his madness and absurdity. By examining his behaviour and mind, I will expound his madness thoroughly.
Is the narrator of “The Tell Tale Heart” sane or insane? “Sanity: a sound of mind; not mad or mentally ill (Webster Dictionary pg. 862).” In the short story, “The Tell Tale Heart.” the narrator tries to convince the audience that he is sane; he says “... but why will you say that I am mad (Poe pg. 202).” I believe that the narrator is sane. He tries to prove that he is sane throughout the entire short story that he is not mad. For example, he was very wary during the seven days that he stalked the old man, he felt an intense amount of guilt, and that he made this brilliant plan of murder.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s short-story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the storyteller tries to convince the reader that he is not mad. At the very beginning of the story, he asks, "...why will you say I am mad?" When the storyteller tells his story, it's obvious why. He attempts to tell his story in a calm manner, but occasionally jumps into a frenzied rant. Poe's story demonstrates an inner conflict; the state of madness and emotional break-down that the subconscious can inflict upon one's self.
The story is full of suspense and mystery from the first sentence. ‘TRUE!-NERVOUSE-VERY, very dreadfully nervous’. The sentence instantly makes the reader want to read on because it makes you wonder why the narrator would have the need to be nervous. After this it leads on to the narrator saying, ‘yet why would you say that I m mad?’. Yet again this makes the reader curious as to why we would assume he is crazy. The character is instantly conveyed to be a mad person, when the first few words appear to be shouted, ‘TRUE-NERVOUS-VERY’. This is dramatic and weird and these words are often repeated through the text, s...
"True!--nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses--not destroyed--not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heavens and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?" "...Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me.” As you can see this man is clearly mad, because this story is told in the first person it helps you understand the character even better, because we are seeing what exactly is happening to him moment by moment. It helps us understand what is going on in his head because we are getting to know him through out the story.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator attempts to assert his sanity while describing a murder he carefully planned and executed. Despite his claims that he is not mad, it is very obvious that his actions are a result of his mental disorder. Hollie Pritchard writes in her article, “it has been suggested that it is not the idea but the form of his madness that is of importance to the story” (144). There is evidence in the text to support that the narrator suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and was experiencing the active phase of said disease when the murder happened. The narrator’s actions in “The Tell-Tale Heart” are a result of him succumbing to his paranoid schizophrenia.
Let’s take a look at Exhibit A that proves that the narrator is not insane rather acting that way to get away from getting punished. “The Tell Tale Hea...
As the story begins the narrator tries to convince the reader that he is not insane. This goes on throughout the story. He says he suffers from over-acuteness. “And have I not told you that what you mist...