The Tell Tale Heart Research Paper

The narrator of “The Tell-tale Heart” can be seen as a very different individual. Some even say that the narrator is insane from the beginning of the story. Being insane comes with a lot of unique characteristics, and the narrator shows many of these characteristics throughout the story. Insane is defined as “afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement.” This paper will seek to validate to assumption that the narrator is in fact, insane. To begin with, the narrator of “The Tell-tale Heart” is obviously in denial about being mad. First, the narrator is trying to prove himself sane the whole time he is telling his story. For example, he begins his explanation by saying “TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had …show more content…
To start with, the old man’s caretaker explains that he had no reason to dislike the old man, other than his eye. As an example, the narrator says he loved the old man, then he goes on to say “I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!”. (Poe 1). The caretaker is clearly insane from the beginning of the story, being that he has this extremely strange obsession with the old man’s eye. Also, the narrator develops a strategy before he commits the hateful crime, and takes the old man’s life. For example, “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution” (Poe 1). which lets you know he had time to think before he acted. Last, when the caretaker finally see’s the eye on the eighth night of sneaking to the old man’s chamber, he goes completely psycho. As an illustration, the narrator tries to complete the same ritual as he has the past seven nights, but this time he causes a ruckus “I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me”. (Poe 1). The narrator had become so overly joyful that he began to slip up and made too much noise; therefore, he woke the old man. To sum up, such a plan could not have been conceived by anyone in their normal state of