The Narrator's Insanity In 'The Tell-Tale Heart'

Decent Essays
In “The Tell- Tale Heart”, the narrator is introduced by trying to prove his sanity to the readers. The narrator admits that due to his strong powerful sense of hearing, "he can hear all things in the heaven and in the earth and many things in hell.” This proves to us that the narrator is not focusing on reality because of his sick mind. The narrator shows a desperate need to prove his sanity to everyone by constantly reminding his readers that he is sane. He even tells a story of a pointless murder just to prove he’s not mad. “The Tell- Tale Heart” narrator represents a basic aspect of being human. As people, we all experience moments of unreliability. We are unable to remember events accurately, causing us to get confused and do and say things

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    By acting irrationally, blaming their actions on things other than themselves, and assuring the reader that they are sane despite copious evidence to the contrary, both the narrator of “The Tell-Tale…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Brett Zimmerman took another supporting view of the narrator, in his article about “The Tell-Tale Heart” called Frantic Forensic Oratory, in which he says, “‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is in fact an extended example of what classical Greek and Roman rhetors called antirrhesis”(40). Zimmerman explained that antirrhesis was “the rejection of an argument or opinion because of its error, wickedness, or insignificance”(40). Zimmerman’s take on “The Tell-Tale Heart” analyzes the way that the narrator talks about himself, how the narrator keeps trying to convince the reader that he is not mad. Poe uses the rhetorical statements throughout the entire story. Zimmerman also states that another device is used in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, one that is often used by the narrators of Poe’s stories, “praeparatio (preparing an audience before telling them about something done)”(41).…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The narrator has an unknown relation to the old man, who he murdered in the story. By depicting how irrational the actions, and how terrifyingly twisted the mind of the narrator is, Edgar Allan Poe shows how the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” is unreliable. In the short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator tries to justify his actions to prove his sanity. He tries to convince the readers that he is mentally stable by saying, “the disease had sharpened my senses -not destroyed - not dulled them” (Poe,…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While this admittedly seems plausible, the narrator of the tell-tale heart is sane because he does not have the characteristics it takes to be legally insane. Some of these characteristics are that he doesn't know what he's doing is wrong, that he unaware of surroundings, that his actions have illogical reasons or not reasons at all, that he is confused about daily life, that his emotions are above and beyond what is normally expected for a given situation, that he is unable to resist impulses. The Tell-Tale heart narrator is very sane.…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I think the narrator of The Tell Tale Heart is a psychopath. He hates this innocent old man for not a very good reason. He try's to make himself innocent. He says he has super hearing. He thinks he can hear the heart beating.…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “The Tell-Tale Heart” it is clear that the narrator’s conscience has overtaken him and it is up to the reader to discern whether the narrator is actually insane or whether he suffers from an over acuteness of his senses. However, when Poe makes the suggestion that the narrator is insane based on the narrator’s own claim of insanity, then the actions of the narrator serve to expose the narrative irony in the story. In this regard, Poe makes the audience believe that the narrator’s insanity extends to the definition of insanity as applied in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. In order to understand whether the narrator is actually sane or insane within and without the precincts of the story setting, it is important to review how the narrator reacts in…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the excerpt “from The Tell-tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe, creates the clever and sneaky character of an unnamed narrator through indirect characterization. Using the components of gestures, and internal thoughts, Poe illustrates a story about the paranoia of this character and reveals that people aren’t always what you see on the surface. An example of this character making a clever gesture is him opening the door with a “light heart,- for what had I now to fear?” Poe uses a question mark at the end of this statement to show the narrator may actually have something to fear. When Poe writes “ I smiled, - for what had I to fear?”…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, the reader is quickly introduced to the narrator of the story. The narrator begins the story by giving the reader a glimpse into his unhinged mind “I heard many things in hell.” The narrator then weaves a story about his unhealthy obsession with an old man, particularly the old man’s “Evil Eye.” Like most mentally ill criminals the narrator then tries to rationalize his crime by making himself the victim of the old man’s eye “it fell upon me my blood ran cold.” The narrator then depicts his plan to murder the old man; all the while trying to convince his audience of his sanity.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    4. He is unreliable a narrator because he suffers from hallucinations. The narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" acts as if he had the selective omniscience of a third-person narrator. Approaching the old man's bed on the night of the crime, the narrator claims to know what his victim "had been…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Insanity is shown throughout the tell-tale heart?what,you don’t know about the tell-tale heart!well let me give you a tour of all the excitement and joys of the tell-tale heart. It's about a man who kills a man However,If you do not like gothic horror I advise you do not keep reading. The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story filled with insanity to quote(Edgar Allen Poe)”I hear all things in heaven and in the earth.’’ “I hear many things in hell.…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Tell Tale Heart”, by Edgar Allan Poe, is about a man that murders his elderly neighbor. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a yearly lottery drawing by a town that turns deadly, where the “victor” gets stoned to death. Both short stories have murder in common, one that follows the act made by the individual and the other that follows the community collectively committing murder. Both authors’ identify the horrific acts, follow how these events affect the characters psychologically, and relate them to personal and societal issues. Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Tell Tale Heart” to provide an idea of paranoia and mental deterioration.…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.”…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It could be simply telling a lie or ruining a life changing moment for someone. However, the author’s message in “The Tell Tale Heart” means much more than that. Even if the narrator was not mentally ill and had more of a thought out plan, he would have still felt guilty for taking the life of an innocent person. The narrator proves that no matter what you do to suppress your guilt, it will always find a way back to you. Since the narrator chose to kill the old man, his guilt was worse than anything he has ever felt before in his…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    So is the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart Insane? There are many arguments about this, however, there is no clear answer. Will we ever discover the answer? Maybe it will never be found, becoming a secret lost in…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Descent towards Madness In the short story “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, repetition reveals how the protagonist does not have a grip on reality. As the guilt of taking a man’s life overwhelms the protagonist he descends towards madness. The narrator is a companion of the old man and says he “loved the old man” (Poe, 1). But, the old man’s eye was “vulture like” (1) and bothered the narrator to the extent that he lost control of his actions.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays