The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story with various themes. Throughout the story the narrator suspiciously watches an older man while he sleeps for many days until he finally murders the man. The reasoning for this mysterious and indiscriminate murder is all because of “the evil eye” which the old man has. There are many themes that are hidden within this short murder story which range from the old man’s evil eye, insanity, and lastly guilt. “The Tell Tale Heart” is a very well written short story, filled with different themes, giving it a very dark and mysterious tone which keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, waiting and wondering what will happen next. As the story opens, the narrator begins talking about how
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The first sentence of the story says “TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am", this implies that the narrator is dreadfully nervous and bothered by something and still it bothered (Poe). The narrator feels as if he is being constantly watched by this “evil eye” of the old man, this also implies a sense of insanity within the narrator because as we can derive from the short story the old man seems to be blind in one eye causing him to have a blue, grey film covering his eye. The narrator feels as if he is being followed by this eye, when the eye is not even gazing upon him, the narrator just feels as if he is cursed by this evil (Lazzari). One other example of the narrator’s insanity is how he would go to the old man’s house each day for a week and just watch him sleep. The narrator would just observe the eye and wait for the right moment to strike, until the day the old man finally wakes up after hearing the narrator open the door to the old man’s house. The narrator stays still for a very long time just watching the old man until he finally kills him and ends his insanity and attempts to free himself from the cursed “evil eye”. The last case of insanity within the narrator in the short story is in the end of the story when the narrator hears the beating heart of the dead man. This is one of the clearest cases of insanity seen through the narrator
The first sentence of the story says “TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am", this implies that the narrator is dreadfully nervous and bothered by something and still it bothered (Poe). The narrator feels as if he is being constantly watched by this “evil eye” of the old man, this also implies a sense of insanity within the narrator because as we can derive from the short story the old man seems to be blind in one eye causing him to have a blue, grey film covering his eye. The narrator feels as if he is being followed by this eye, when the eye is not even gazing upon him, the narrator just feels as if he is cursed by this evil (Lazzari). One other example of the narrator’s insanity is how he would go to the old man’s house each day for a week and just watch him sleep. The narrator would just observe the eye and wait for the right moment to strike, until the day the old man finally wakes up after hearing the narrator open the door to the old man’s house. The narrator stays still for a very long time just watching the old man until he finally kills him and ends his insanity and attempts to free himself from the cursed “evil eye”. The last case of insanity within the narrator in the short story is in the end of the story when the narrator hears the beating heart of the dead man. This is one of the clearest cases of insanity seen through the narrator