The Tell-Tale Heart: Psychotic Actions

The modern view of psychopathic killers is much closer to the true medical definition than the mid-19th century concept of psychotic, or mad, behaviour when “The Tell-Tale Heart” was written; this is primarily due to the fact that we now identify psychotic actions as a psychological issue, as opposed to demonic or evil intent. Despite this, whether they are medically accurate or not, there are certain traits and natures that are tied to psychopaths in the modern conscience. “The Tell-Tale Heart”, despite its age, exhibits a few of these contemporary expectations but there are exceptions throughout.

One of the major attributes of the modern concept of psychopathy is the inherent apathy, or at least lack of empathy, exhibited by the individual; often after performing a heinous or otherwise socially unacceptable act they display no emotional gravitas. The protagonist of “The Tell-Tale Heart” demonstrates a mixture of this indifference but also sporadic bouts of regret and remorse. An example of this is when the eponymous heart begins to beat and the protagonist begins to fear it: “But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die!”. There are however many examples in which the character does display these behaviours. Firstly is the insensitive reason as to why he commits the murder:

Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees --very ...

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...elays his actions. However there are instances when this is not the case such as the acknowledgement of the previously amiable relationship he had with the old man. A pang of pity his expresses early on and the repentance he calls for when the beating of the heart, as a herald for the unconscionable act he had performed becomes too much to bear. Considering the age of the piece it is clear that the concept of a psychopath still has some of the same aspects as it once did almost one-hundred-and-sixty years ago; there are some nuances that have come of the modern psychopath due to the influence of contemporary media and the medical understanding of what causes psychosis and what it generally entails in terms of behaviour. Despite this, “The Tell-Tale Heart” tells the story of a man who exhibits traits that would not go amiss in a modern interpretation of a psychopath.