The TellTale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe begins with a man attempting to prove his sanity. In all actuality this attempt reveals his madness: " True! Nervous, very very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?"(Poe 132) This story shows Poe's underlying desires to kill, his true madness, and thoughts of revenge.

To understand the true madness behind The Tell Tale Heart you must first understand the life of Edgar Allan Poe. He was born on January 19th 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe's parents were David Poe, an actor and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, an actress. Poe was cursed upon birth. Shortly after his birth his father abandoned the family and left Poe and his mother to fend for themselves. Not long after that, the cruel hands of fate struck Poe again by claiming his mother. In 1911, when Poe was a mere two-year-old his mother passed away, leaving him with his second loss of a loved one. After his father's disappearance and his mother's death Poe was sent to live with his godfather, John Allan. John Allan was a wealthy merchant based in Richmond, Virginia. He was wealthy and could provide a good life for Poe. In 1815, Poe and his new

nd fury, barged in to the room. Scaring the old man, the young man then pushed him to the floor and pulled the bed over him. The deed was then done; the evil eye would no longer trouble the young man. Then the young man cut off the arms and legs of the body and placed the pieces between the scantlings in the chamber floor. He thinks that he has it all plotted out and now he can continue on with his life with out the bother of his obsession. Then there is a knock on the door. It was the police; they had received a report of a scream. The young man had expected this, so he calmly and confidently searched the house with the officers. They fail to find anything suspicious. After the search, the officers have a seat and chat with the young man. While chatting and wanting the officers to leave, the sound appears again, the pounding heart. "The sound of a watch enveloped in cotton," (Poe 137) had grown loud and clear. This greatly annoyed the narrator and also built up hi!

Phillps, Mary E. Edgar Allan Poe The Man. Chicago. Philadephia. Toronto: The John C. Winston CO, 1962

Gallery Books. The 1,000 page Treasury of Children's Stories. New York, New York. Gallery Books, 1987

Poe paid attention to every detail, as did the young man in the story. His personal torment was so powerful that it would have been nearly impossible for him to write and not include his deep dark secrets and wishes. I think that this story is great proof of Poe's real intentions of revenge on all of those who caused him pain. Deep down Edgar Allan Poe had intions to kill. If he were to full fill these thoughts it would have turned out much like this story. He would carefully plot the murder right down to the very last smilingly insignificant detail. Then he would commit the murder in the exact way he had planned. Only to be un able to keep it a secret, his conscious and problems with self control would lead to him confessing his crime. Edgar Allan Poe was a mad man who died before he could act out his dreams. It just so happens that he did live long enough to write many stories that revealed his true thoughts, wishes, and dreams including The Tell Tale Heart.

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Approximate Word count = 1631
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)