Insanity In Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell Tale Heart

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What separates the mentally ill from the insane? The knowledge that they too are crazy. Some people suffering from Insanity have a condition known as anosognosia, which is the lack of awareness towards an illness. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator is believed to suffer from anosognosia. Edgar Allan Poe allows his readers to examine the characters with his use of an unreliable narrator, the theme of the story, and his unique approach on the lack of character development. Poe’s short story begins with a conversation, and it persuades the reader to continue with the tale. Although, the explanation towards the narrator’s sanity is debatable. The narrators starts feeling a sense of injustice and starts getting agitated. …show more content…
Some people are argue that the realtor is psychotic, but that is not the case because of the fact that he or she is a sociopath. There is a fine line between these both mental illnesses. Psychopaths tend to be intelligent, and sociopaths in the other hand tend to do everything in a pulse. For example, a psychotic killer would plan the whole crime from beginning to end. A sociopath killer would be driven by mean of his or her emotions and would be more likely to make a messy crime scene. According to Psychology Today, “sociopaths are capable of empathy in certain limited circumstances” which would suggest why the narrator declares, “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He never wronged me.” (Poe 29) while admitting a horrendous murder. In the other hand, psychopaths tend to show no empathy at all. In spite of the fact, the story shows that the narrator might also be narcissistic. The speaker of the story states, “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded.” It would also imply why the narrator finds the old man’s eye insufferable, due to the fact that when one stares into someone’s eye they see a reflection. The narrator might have detested the reflection, because the reflection might not have donated to the narcissistic cause. “I grew furious as I gazed upon it.” (Poe 31) also, the narrator claims …show more content…
However, it is impossible to hear someone’s heart from across the room, even more unachievable when the person is already dead. Therefore, the narrator was hearing his or her own heart, due to the fact that adrenaline accelerates the beating of the heart. “It was the beating of the old man’s heart. It increased my fury” (Poe 31) the narrator could have misinterpreted the situation, the rage increased the heartbeat not the other way around. Henceforth, the realtor’s soldier analogy would make sense. The beating of the drums do stimulate the soldier into courage. (Poe 31) Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates this again when the narrator admits the crime to the police, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –tear up the planks! –here, here! –it is the beating of his hideous heart!” It is more than likely that the narrator felt overwhelmed with remorse, or the heartbeat increased once again due to the paranoia of being interrogated by the police, which would initiate the hearing of his or her own

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