The variation of strange and disturbed characters has been a constant throughout all works of gothic fiction. In The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator murders an old man for which he has an almost familial love. It is clear that the novel’s narrator has a questionable mental state due to his weak grasp upon reality. This is seen in the way he attributes special powers to the old man’s eye and in his incomprehension towards neighbours hearing the final heartbeats of his victim.
First of all, the narrator associates fictional powers with the old man’s pale blue eye. For example, after he had replaced all the floorboards “so cleverly” (Poe, p.8) he proceeds to explain that “no human eye-not even his-could have detected anything
First of all, the narrator associates fictional powers with the old man’s pale blue eye. For example, after he had replaced all the floorboards “so cleverly” (Poe, p.8) he proceeds to explain that “no human eye-not even his-could have detected anything