Tell Tale Heart Essay, Research Paper

Even though Poe stated in the first few lines of the story that the person narrating the story is insane. It is only when the narratortells us his preparations for murdering the old man that we know how insane he is. The narrator states, “I heard all things in theheaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?” The narrator explains it as merely some diseasewhich has sharpened his senses that has made people call him crazy. Well, to me if someone hears voices of heaven, earth, andhell in his head, he has either a radio that has a very long reception wave, or that this man is insane. The narrator tells us, “how wisely I proceeded-with what caution,” “I turned the latch of his door and opened it-oh, so gently!”"How cunningly I thrust my head in! I Moved it slowly, very slowly,” “I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, socautiously-cautiously.” Taking a whole hour to intrude his head into the room, he asks, “Ha !-would a madman be as wise asthis?” He does not show wisdom. Instead an over zealous care is taken to ensure the murder. His careful preparations, hebelieves prove him to be sane, but this only reassures the reader of his insanity. Something I find to reinforce my idea of him being insane is that he regards the eye as a separate being from the old man. Hestates, “It was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.” It seemed to that he could not kill the old man unless he could see his eye, he states, “I found the eye always closed; and so itwas impossible to do the work.” Work is referring to killing the old man, as if it was a job that must be completed. Thissuggested that may be there was something other than his insanity that is obscuring his sense of reality. Even though he takesgreat pains not to disturb the old man’s sleep, he wants to catch the “Evil Eye” open. Well, his thinking is not logical, if hewanted to kill the “Evil Eye” while it was open, why not rush the old man wake him and then kill him. In his mind the “Evil Eye”

and the old man is two different beings. No doubt the narrator is clever in his insanely scheme, and he is proud of thiscleverness. “I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I thenreplaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye-not even his-could detected anything wrong. There wasnothing to wash out-no stain of any kind-no bloodspot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all-ha! ha! “, he says. The point of view in the story is given to us by the narrator in the first person. Since the story is told by the main character wehave to believe what’s happening and not a delusion of the madness in his mind. Thus hoping what is said is accurate. Giving usthis point of view is vital to understanding his madness and the killing of the old man. The theme of the story is somewhat difficult to grasp if there is one, I really do not find any theme in this story. A comparison of Tell-Tal Heart’s narrator, and A Rose For Emily’s main character. They both have a warped sense of reality,and both of their reality is different than those of other characters in the story. What I mean by this is their reality or behavior isnot shared by all; the characters in The Lottery all participate in the obscure behavior which then makes it in the norm forsociety. Miss Emily poisons a man ,and then sleeps with the dead body believing its acceptable behavior, when its really not. Both the narrator and Miss Emily are selfish. Miss Emily thinks only of herself and what her needs are. Poe’s narrator also isselfish, killing the old man because he could not bear the old man’s eye. Unlike Emily the Narrator knows what he was going iswrong. Why else would he hide the body and trying to fool the policemen. Narrating in the first person point of view gives usthis advantage. In Emily’s case this is no so. Her reason why she did what she did was not given to us in the same point of view,we could only conclude why.