Dark Romanticism In Edgar Allan Poe's Dark Romanticism

Dark Romantic Movement: “Tell-Tale Heart” Dark Romanticism plays an important role in Edgar Allan Poe 's “Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe portrays “Tell-Tale Heart” in the Dark Romantics by emphasizing the dark side of humanity’s twisted illusions of what is right and wrong. The narrator of the story is depicted as an insane man whose purpose is to prove to the reader that he is sane. To prove that, the narrator speaks of a time that was thought out carefully to kill the old sleeping man and his evil, all seeing, eye. It is evident in the story that he plays as judge, jury, and executioner without any real evidence of a crime or oppressed action being committed. The story characterizes some features of Dark Romanticism such as self-destruction, obsession …show more content…
The narrator originally was not going kill the old man as he was too afraid to do so, but the circumstances changed and in the heat of the long silent moment he felt the need to take action. He describes the old man death in detail breathed less he stood waiting for the proper moment to finally do the deed. In his anxious insanity out of fear he flips the old mans bed over and suffocates him further denying him his humanity. As he states, “I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done… At length it ceased. The old man was dead… Yes, he was stone, stone dead” (Poe 6). After the deed is done he feels that his sins are finally encapsulated, he checks the body to make sure that the old man was actually dead to further the truth of his barbaric notion of justice is served. This further contributes to the dark romantic movement in the sense that humanities dark sins are forever being encapsulated and forgotten, that there are no heroes only villains in the vast land of cruelty known as society. To further describe his action he talks about how he tormented the old man by standing there quietly even though the old man knew someone was there. As stated, “ 'It is nothing but the wind in the chimney—it is only a mouse crossing the floor, ' or 'it is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp. ' Yes, he has been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions; but he had found all in vain” (Poe 5). In quote the narrator is enjoying seeing the old man contemplate what the situation is, further showing his insanity and ability to commit atrocities to get what he wants. This as related to the dark romantic movement portrays that villains do exists and often get away with their acts by out