Madness And Guilt In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allen Poe

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The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe is about a man who is insane. Edgar Allen Poe uses dialogue and imagery to show his readers about this man who became so mad he killed an old man. As the story develops the man becomes crazier. The theme of madness and guilt surrounds the short story from beginning to end. From the moment the man feels threatened by the old man’s eye to the moment where he confesses to killing him we see the main themes of madness and guilt as shown by the imagery that Edgar Allen Poe uses. The story revolves around two recurring themes: madness and guilt. Madness runs throughout the entire story from beginning to end. Poe starts off by introducing the readers to this man whom they know nothing about. The insane man claimed that an old man’s grey eye watched him like a vulture. He became so obsessed with the old man’s eye to the point where he began watching him in his sleep. Before he murdered the old man he could hear the old man’s heartbeat racing which only made him angrier. Poe uses the imagery of the racing heart to show us how mad he had become. He heard the heartbeat of the old man when instead it was his own. Later, after the cops show up at the old man’s house, Poe uses the imagery of the racing heart again to show us the guilt he felt. …show more content…

After the man had killed the old man the police showed up. They searched the house and asked some questions and they believed him. Yet somehow while the police officers searched the house and asked him questions all he could hear was the old man’s heartbeat. As mentioned the heartbeat he hears is his own. His heart races because he knows he killed the old man and feels guilty. Once he is in the clear the police officers sit and chat with the man, but he cannot focus. He becomes so desperate and hysterical that he confesses to the police officers about killing the old

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