...The Tell-Tale Heart Q. Choose a novel or a short story in which the author creates a fascinating character. By referring to appropriate techniques, show how the author has created this character and why you found him/her so interesting. Among the many strange and complex short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ has come to be known as one of the most mysterious and psychologically intriguing. The story contains a fascinating character in form of the narrator, which is explored through Poe’s use of word choice, irony, and alliteration, as well as many other thought provoking techniques. The story as a whole explores the themes of perception versus reality, and the question of whether the evil within is worse than the evil without, and Poe delves into these themes using the character he has created to narrate the story. The story follows the murder of an old man and its aftermath, the story told with what seems like dazzling clarity on behalf of the narrator, obscuring the meaning of the act and calling the emotional stability of the unnamed, assumed male, narrator into question. In the very first sentence of the story, Poe introduces irony to draw in the reader, and leaves the beginning purposefully ambiguous to cause intrigue towards the narrator. “TRUE! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been, and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” By starting the sentence with the word ‘true’, Poe leads us to believe what we read next will be some sort...
Words: 1499 - Pages: 6
...翁良權 98121232 Introduction to English Literature, Wed 34 Professor:馬健君 Paper1: Essay for the Tell-Tale Heart(題目太籠統，不要學) Oct, 21, 2009 Essay for the Tell-Tale Heart(題目太籠統，不要學) This story is described from the murderer. He talks about the process how he killed the old man. The name of The Tell-Tale Heart gives the hint for what will happen next and the heart will do something startled. Using the name can make reader interested in knowing what the story will go. In the beginning, the murderer doesn’t think he has committed the crime. And he tries to convince reader to believe what he did is right. In the story, the author describes what the murderer feels in the whole story. His mood goes from excitement to confidence to guilt and to breaking down at length. The author uses precise sentences to describe those moods for example:“Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust head in.”,“I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph.”means the murderer at that time was really exciting;“I smiled,--for what had I to fear?”, “While I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. ”means the murderer was confident to what he did without any mistakes; “No doubt I now grew very pale; but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice.”,“I talked more quickly, more vehemently but the noise steadily increased.”means the murderer was guilty;“I felt that I must scream or die...
Words: 879 - Pages: 4
...The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (add the year yourself!) [pic] TRUE! nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole story. It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain, but, once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture -- a pale blue eye with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold, and so by degrees, very gradually, I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever. Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight, with what dissimulation, I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night about midnight I turned the latch of his door and opened it oh, so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern...
Words: 2359 - Pages: 10
...------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- “The Tell-Tale Heart” 4. Old man – younger than this man. 5. He is trying to convince that he is not mad, he says all the time things like “here is the reason why I am not mad”, he is very angry because of the old man’s eye. 6. p. 155 l. 3-6 (Because he did the killing job so well) and p. 157 l. 9-10 (not mad because he took so good care of the dead body) 7. a. p. 157 l. 16-17 (Laughing and showing how good he is to cover the body) b. p. 156 l. 36-38 8. He thinks that he is not mad because he is planning the whole thing so well, he is doing everything so right and he keeps telling us that he is not mad because he is doing his plan so well. But we as a narrator think that being insane is to plan what he is planning. 9. a. p. 154 l. 9-10 (loves him) b. p. 155 l. 1-2 c. Good and fine d. He looks at the old man at night but he cannot do it because the “evil eye” of the old man is not open at the first seven days. e. He is there all night to hear f. Experience the feeling the old man feels and that is “funny” to him 10. a. p. 156 l. 2-3 and l. 5-8 Had been hearing the person every night, his fear grows and tries to calm himself with that it is just a mouse, but he is scared about what he is hearing. b. p. 154 l. 12 it is so disturbing that he decides to take the old man’s life c. A feeling of a desire to kill, angry and mad d. p. 156...
Words: 638 - Pages: 3
...Rachel Murray B. Sumey, Instructor Comp. II, TTH 3:00 18 Feb. 2012 Insanity In the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is very insane and mentally ill. He is a murderer, does not sleep much, is very paranoid, and is unable to distinguish what is real and unreal. It is clear that Poe wants to create a character who is mad. First off, the narrator kills the old man. By doing so, he is considered a murderer. The death occurs “in an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him” (44). He is obviously not in his right mind to murder someone in such a manner. The narrator even claims to enjoy the event of murdering the old man. The narrator is crazy because he does not sleep much during the night. Instead of getting a good night’s rest, he takes the time to go and watch the old man sleep: “And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it – oh, so gently!” (42). Staying up every night affects his judgement because he does this for one whole week. “. . . that every night, just at twelve, I looked upon him while he slept” (43). The reason he stays up and watches the old man is so that he can be ready for anything that can possibly go wrong during his murder plan. The character sounds like he is hysterical. In the very beginning of the short story, this is evident by his saying, “True! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous. . .” (42). The protagonist states that he can hear things that...
Words: 531 - Pages: 3
...{A Case Study of Madness } Robert “Devin” Earl {Friday, February 5, 2016} Throughout Edgar Allen Poe’s work Tell Tale Heart several patterns, and symbolic elements are present. Each of these elements play respective roles in revealing the purpose of the work as a whole. Poe wants to convey a feeling of paranoia and mental illness. Its as if Poe wants his work to function as a summary of a case study about mental deterioration. He uses his diction purposefully and scarcely in order to have the main character convey a feeling of obsession with very specific entities of the old man. The main character has a unhealthy fixation on the old man’s eye, his heartbeat and even his claim to sanity. As the story progresses sever different psychological contradictions come to illumination that each contribute to the general profile of a murder. In example the narrator openly admits “to being dreadfully nervous”, however he is unable to comprehend why he is thought of as deranged He articulates his self-defense against madness in terms of increased sensory ability. Instead of of viewing this hypersensitivity as a clue to being mentally unwell the narrator uses it to prove to himself his possession of sanity and not a product of madness. Another symbolic element that proves Poe is conveying a study of the mentally unstable is the narrator’s detachment between emotional feelings such as love and hate. Poe uses his story to explore a psychological paradox between those who cannot truly...
Words: 420 - Pages: 2
...These three paragraphs, which are found in the beginning of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” are significant towards the rest of the story. The beginning paragraphs are necessary for the introduction and rising action of the story.. By writing a summary of what the narrator did to the old man, Poe shows the madness in the narrator. Throughout the story, his writing is used in a way to show how the narrator wants to prove his sanity. By using an unreliable second person point of view, symbolism, and syntax & sentence structure, this passage is used to prove the narrator’s point. In the reading, Poe utilizes an unreliable second person point of view. This means that the narrator either cannot or will not tell the reader what really happens in the story. In the passage, the narrator immediately states that his disease has made his hearing intensely powerful, rather than weakening his senses. He claims, “I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I...
Words: 713 - Pages: 3
...“The scariest monsters are the ones that lurks within our souls,” says Edgar Allan Poe. The narrator in the story The Tell Tale Heart is a good example of this quote because even same people can be monsters.The narrator was not insane when he murdered the old man; therefore, he is guilty. Throughout the story the narrator tries to convince the reader he is not insane. For example, “Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded - with what caution - with what foresight, with what dissimulation I went to work!” Crazy people can not tell you anything. He is telling us the truth. He knew how to protect in getting rid of the old man.This good evidence because he would get arrested for getting rid...
Words: 358 - Pages: 2
...The world which Poe would have known was more superstitious and dangerous than what we know today. For example, in the 19th century having a coma could be mistaken for death, as a result, it was not uncommon to be buried alive, Poe included live burial in many of his works – to exploit public fears. One of the main assets of his work however is his ability to build intense suspense. By using a variety of techniques Poe was able to create tension and mystery in his (short) stories: Poe employs excessively detailed descriptions and repetition to delay the reader’s arrival at the final climax; Poe does this because he wanted to give time for the suspense to build up before arrival at the inevitably blood-curdling climax. For example, In tell-tale heart before the murderer kills the old man there is a substantial amount of repetition and more complex sentences : ” cautiously -- oh, so cautiously -- cautiously (for the hinges creaked), I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.” As a result of this delay, the reader becomes even more inquisitive over what events will happen next. The narrator’s use of unnatural language hints at the abnormal mental state of the narrator: He describes the old man’s eye as ‘Evil’ or ’Damned’- damned in this case meaning satanic or cursed. The reader, therefore, has cause to doubt the sanity of the narrator and therefore, what he is going to do. Furthermore the narrator in TTH enjoys recounting, in gruesome detail,...
Words: 804 - Pages: 4
...Really how insane was the narrator of “The Tell Tale Heart”? Many people have different opinions about whether he was mentally unstable or not. Would killing an innocent person because of their eye prove someone crazy? This story is about an insane person (the narrator) that murders a poor old man because his eye bothered him. The narrator had no other motives to kill the old man besides his eye, in fact he claims that he loved the old man. Little did he know that the crime would come back to bite him in the butt. The narrator looked through the crack of the old man’s door each night and stayed there for hours on end. He was very cautious with his actions though, because the old man was very fearful of death and could sense things and he heard just about everything. The narrator was never kinder to the old man than the week before he killed him, probably because he wanted to leave things on a good note before the old man passed. Being kind to the old man before he died would show some sanity wouldn’t it? According to the narrator, the old man was rich but that’s not why he killed him, he just wanted to get rid of his eye. The narrator had some sort of disease that “sharpened his senses” not dulled them. His hearing was the sense most affected by the disease. The narrator claimed that he could hear all...
Words: 545 - Pages: 3
...The story, Tell Tale Heart, is about a man, the narrator, committing a crime. The crime involves an old man that he liked very much. But his eye, his “pale blue eye” as he called it. There was something about it that infuriated him. It infuriated him enough that he killed thee man. The motives of the man (The Narrator) were not clear towards the beginning of the story, he admitted he had a hatred for the man’s eye but you couldn’t identify he would have murdered him yet. The man tried denying the fact that he was mad. The text didn’t say that he was strictly mad word for word, but you could infer that he was. He took precaution when executing his plan to get rid of the eye once and for all. In lines 19-20 the text says “how wisely I proceeded-with...
Words: 525 - Pages: 3
...The Narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a quite rare style for most readers. In this story, we find the narrator to be first person and a bit unreliable. This man kills his housemate at midnight because of his vulture-like eye. Some might ask if he is responsible for it even though he is a bit... coo-coo in the head. In this case, I’ll be answering with: some people are more mentally-ill than others, some are still realizing what they’re thinking and some don’t. In this case, we are unsure about how severe his mentality state is. Another question that is frequently asked is why did he kill the poor old man? Well, in the beginning in this story the main character says to the audience that his disease hah only sharpen his sense, not destroy...
Words: 363 - Pages: 2
...Have you ever been so angry about someone’s appearance or something about them that made you want to kill them? Well the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart has been before. Some people might think he is insane for doing such a thing and others may just think it’s straight up murder and that he should be sent to jail. This profile will make you see what he actually is and was thinking for killing a person. The first question most people ask is, did he commit a crime? Yes he indeed did commit a crime, he has committed murder. From the story it states that, “Yes, he was stone, stone dead.” So even if you think he is crazy still that’s fine but he did in fact commit a crime. You can still be insane but breaking the rules doesn’t just go away for...
Words: 409 - Pages: 2
...“The Tell-Tale Heart” is narrated by an unnamed individual about which little is revealed. The only fact that is known for certain is that the narrator lives with, and serves, an elderly man. At first he cannot speak to his motive for murder: “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire.” Grasping for a motive, he says, “I think it was his eye!” and then, as if to convince himself as much as the audience, he declares, “yes, it was this!” Searching for a reason for his actions, his uncertainty is apparent and he attempts to justify the brutal murder and dismemberment of the old man, for which there is no apparent logical explanation, by blaming the “Evil Eye.” The narrator spends a...
Words: 332 - Pages: 2
...The story the tell tale heart by Edgar Allan Poe is one of his shorter stories but interesting one at that. The story is mysterious and equivocal at times. The most interesting thing in the story is the narrator. The narrator is trying to prove his sanity throughout the story. If the narrator is trying to prove a Saturday but only she confesses heinous crime he is all but insane. The narrator opens up the story by admitting he is "very very dreadfully nervous" type of person. He then states he is not mad, to reveal that he is a madman and capable of a heinous crime. The narrator speaks of his sensitivities that allow him to hear "all things in the heaven and the earth," also in hell. The sensitivities are part of the reason he became obsessed with the old man's eyes which in return murders the old man for his Vulture eye. The narrator starts his story off with the fact that he "loved the old man," adding "He never wronged me." This is when he leads into his obsession and the vulture eye. He goes into great detail about the eye "A pale blue eye, with a film over it." Only A madman would obsess that much over an eye to have no motivation to kill the old man but the obsession of the vulture eye. In this paragraph the narrator contradicts himself with his mental ability to love and hate at the same time. He then wants to prove to us his sanity by how "wisely" he would proceed with caution foresight and dissimulation he executes his deeds. He then goes into how every night...
Words: 963 - Pages: 4
