Tell Tell Heart: use of POV

A detailed Summary of Tell Tell Heart: use of POV

Tell Tell Heart : Use of Point of View

There is a belief that the eyes are windows to the soul. But to some, the soul resides in the heart. In Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell Tell Heart," he also links these two body parts. The story opens with this unnamed narrator telling of how he will kill the old man because-well the reason he gives-he dislikes his "Evil Eye" yet, in the end it is the old man's beating heart that drives the narrator to confess to the killing. Poe strategically employs first person narrative for the point of view because the reader receives an extended understanding of the narrator and it enhances the interest of the reader.

The purpose for a first person narrative is often to give supplementary understanding of the story. With this style, Poe is capable of giving explanations to the motives of the narrator and his feelings of reflection after the killing too. The narrator explains, "One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture . . . Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold" (293). The narrator presents this as the motive to kill the old man. Since the eye represents the windows to the soul, the narrator distresses over the purest of the old man in comparison to his own making the old man's eye symbol

In the few paragraphs at the conclusion of the story, the narrator reveals, "it was a low, dull quick sound-much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in a cotton" (298). The narrator hears the beating of the old man's heart. Because of his illogical motive for killing the man, there is a feeling of insanity in the air thus ruling out the notion that the narrator hears the beating heart in response to his guilt. If the man is "insane," the actual events of the story are in question thus adding to the idea of mystery. When the reader leaves the story, he or she will always wonder to the validity of the plot thus ensuing the connotation of curiosity in the unknown. Poe uses the point of view to pace the story to a suspenseful twist of irony at the end where the narrator confesses to the killing of the old man. It is not someone else who detects his murder by clues but it is he who confesses, which contradicts his previous assurance that he would not be caught. This highlights the perception of the narrator convincing himself that he will not be caught. Through the point of view, the narrator has the ability to talk to the reader as if to convince the reader of his sanity thus convincing himself too. Poe allows for the reader to perceive that he or she understands the entirety of story

Some common words found in the essay are:
Evil Eye, Tell Heart, Heart View, person narrative, person narrative view, employs person narrative, notion narrator, Tell Tell, tell tell heart, narrator hears beating, logical motive, narrator hears, understanding reader, 298 narrator, beating heart, employs person, allows reader, effect view,

Approximate Word count = 881
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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