tell tale heart critical analysis
The Tell Tale Heart is a story, on the most basic level, of conflict. There is a mental conflict within the narrator himself (assuming the narrator is male). Through obvious clues and statements, Poe alerts the reader to the mental state of the narrator, which is insanity. The insanity is described as an obsession (with the old man's eye), which in turn leads to loss of control and eventually results in violence. Ultimately, the narrator tells his story of killing his housemate. Although the narrator seems to be blatantly insane, and thinks he has freedom from guilt, the feeling of guilt over the murder is too overwhelming to bear. The narrator cannot tolerate it and eventually confesses his supposed "perfect" crime. People tend to think that insane persons are beyond the normal realm of reason shared by those who are in their right mind. This is not so; guilt is an emotion shared by all humans. The most demented individuals are not above the feeling of guilt and the havoc it causes to the psyche. Poe's use of setting, character, and language reveal that even an insane person feels guilt. Therein lies the theme to The Tell Tale Heart: The emotion of guilt easily, if not eventually, crashes through the seemingly unbrea
observations of the men-but the noise steadily increased...I foamed- knew!...I felt I must scream or die!"(780). This statement was, in his mind, clearing him of any possible connections of insanity. Would an insane man take the necessary actions to avoid getting caught? Unfortunately, for him, the answer is yes. There is no hiding his insanity. The narrator thought his calm demeanor had fooled the officers called to his house to investigate: "My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease"(780), that is until he heard the heart beating. However, there was no heart beating. Any sane person knows that a dead heart does not beat: "I found that the noise was not within my ears"(780). The sound was in his ears, and more so in his head. The sound of the beating heart was guilt knocking on his door causing him more mental anguish. After cursing, arguing and carrying on violently, the narrator truly believed the officers knew of his guilt. They were oblivious of his torment talking to each other: "...-they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think"(780). The narrator admits here of his insanity (and subsequently his guilt) at the time of the confrontation, and at the time of his re-telling of the account. These final two lines in the story beautifully demonstrate how language was used to show insanity being overturned by guilt. The narrator proceeded to admit his killing of the old man. Obviously, his mental state was one of pure fear and disillusion. An auditory hallucination of a dead heart beating caused so much mental anguish in the narrator that it made him confess to the crime. This indeed shows insanity. Yet this insanity was not as strong as the guilt pushing through it.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Tale Heart, Evil Eye, heart beating, Tell Tale, sane person, tale heart, tell tale, tell tale heart, beating heart, narrator male, seven nights-every night, madman wise 777, man's eye, nights-every night, mental anguish, madman wise, setting character language, theme tell tale,
Approximate Word count = 1700
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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