The Tell Tale Heart Mentally Insane

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the main character kills an old man simply because it bothers him that the man has a film over his eye. The protagonist then chops up the old man’s body and buries the pieces beneath the floorboards of his house. But is he mentally insane or a calculated killer? The text supports the classification of a calculated killer because he knew what he was doing was wrong, he was very meticulous in his planning, and he was particularly careful in the way that he handled the man’s body after killing him. One way to prove the main character isn’t mentally insane is because he was aware of the crime he was committing. In paragraph four of the story, he says “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old …show more content…
In paragraph three, he writes “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded-with what caution-with what foresight-with what dissimulation I went to work!” His decision to kill the old man was not an on-the-spot moment of fury. He took his time and planned out what needed to be done. Later, in paragraph three, he recalls sneaking into the man’s room in the middle of the night. He says “I moved it slowly-very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep.” Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “insane” as “unable to think in a clear or sensible way.” The main character clearly does not fall under this category, as his crime was very carefully devised. But not only was his plan perfectly executed, he concealed his actions masterfully. In paragraph 13 of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe writes “There was nothing to wash out-no stain of any kind-no blood-spot whatsoever. I had been too wary for that.” He was perfectly aware that what he did was wrong both legally and morally, and he was ingenius in the way that he obscured the evidence of his