Mental Illness In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

Every author's ideas are inspired from different thoughts, in Poe's case many of his stories were inspired from his own life experience. Poe may seem like a strange man because of the stories he wrote, but most of his stories were inspired from his own life. Death, addiction, and emotions, were all a part of Poe's life incorporated into his writing. “The Red Death had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.” (Poe, “The Masque”) Many of Poe's stories, like this example from “The Masque”, consisted of people dying from disease. These stories also attribute to his own life. Many of Poe’s friends and family suffered from or died of disease, specifically his wife and mother who both were taken by tuberculosis. …show more content…
Poe, for inference, suffered from alcoholism and in some opinions, insanity. Several characters in Poe's writings exhibit signs of mental illness or disease. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator illustrates how “The disease had sharpened” his senses. (Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”). Although it is not clear of what the disease is, it is presented that the narrator suffers some form of mental illness, that could be taken from Poe’s own life. In cask of amontillado, Montresor states “my smile was at the thought of his immolation” (Poe, “The Cask”) Montresor had cast revenge on Fortunato because of an unknown insult, and decided to trap him into the walls of the catacombs. Montresor was smiling at the thought of Fortunato's death. Poe writes a great deal about mental illness and sickness, many of those experiences that have happened in his own …show more content…
As stated, Poe likes to write a bunch about death and disease, although not every time is it purposeful. Many times, in ends in guilt or anger. In The Cask of Amontillado, Montresor suffers from mental illness and wants to kill his friend in revenge by bricking him into the walls of the catacombs. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best as I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” Even though he killed him because he was angry, he later feels guilty about what he did. This could demonstrate that Poe may have felt angry and guilty about his family or the events that happened in his life. The House of Usher displays this after Rodrick buries his sister because he believes she is dead, although she ends up coming back alive. “We have put her living in the tomb!” (Poe, “The House of Usher”) Roderick feels guilty of burying Madeline alive, and in Madeline’s anger she kills him too. Poe could be experiencing many of these feelings in his own life, and consequently writing them in his stories. Disease, alcoholism, and guilt are experiences from Poe's life that his stories were inspired by. Both Poe’s life and his stories exhibited death and disease. Poe also suffered from alcoholism and other mental illnesses. Although it may not be stated specifically, it can be assumed that Poe also had to deal with many emotions