The introductory part will present the The Tell- Tale heart (1843), by Alan Edgar Poe, introducing the main characters viz. the narrator and the old man. The story opens with the unknown narrator confessing he is restless but not harebrained or insane, as some would want to think.
He narrates his story by defending his sound mind although he has murdered an innocent old man. The narrator lives with the old man; however, he claims that his supposedly housemate has an evil blue eye that evokes fear in him (the narrator). At this point, the narrator is not trustworthy because he does not even understand himself; he does not know whether he is psychologically sick or he is just another murderer.
Character analysis
This section tackles the main characters of the story and as aforementioned, the narrator and the old man are the only central characters in the story. The narrator is untrustworthy, self-righteous and a rigid person who leaves no space for learning.
He believes he is sane despite the fact that he kills the old man for no apparent reason. His sanctimonious overtones infringe is trustworthiness. On the other hand, the old man is just a victim of malice or covered insanity.
Plot summary
The plot summary will outline the flow of the story where once more the narrator plays the central role. As the story opens, the narrator insinuates he is insane by declaring he has a story to tell; however, the story is a defense to guard his sanity. Therefore, the events of this section will focus on the narrator as he puts forward his claims of sanity.
However, to understand where all the sanity noises are coming from, this section will flashback to the one event that seems to infringe the narrators insanity; the murder of the old man. Again, the narrators trustworthiness is compromised for by defending his actions, he unknowingly exposes his unreliability.
Themes
The overriding theme in this story is the theme of paranoia. As the story opens, the narrator acknowledges that he is nervous for reasons he does not know. The thin, almost confusing, or blurred line between paranoia and madness comes out clearly. People think paranoia is synonymous to madness and perhaps this explains why the narrator is vehement in defending his sanity.
Paranoia in this context also underscores the blurred line between hate and love according to Benfey (78). Ironically, many a time individuals hurt the closest people in their lives. In this section, the narrator is trustworthy; he loves and needs the old man, yet he kills him.
Internal versus external forces
Ironically, the presence of police officers who come to investigate the murder of the old man does not evoke any uneasiness in the narrator. However, the deafening sounds of fear and guilt that haunt the narrator seem to take away his peace. The narrator does not confess the murder because the offices push him; no, he confesses because of guilt and self-conviction.
At this point, the story tries to emphasize that internal forces are stronger than external forces. One can defy and deny external forces like rule of law; however, defying self-conviction is tantamount to committing suicide and the narrator comes out as a trustworthy source of this scenario.
Conclusion
The concluding part of the essay will try to piece together the ideas raised in the story. Running from introduction, though plot summary to themes; this section will give a concise recap of the whole story.
Works Cited
Benfey, Christopher. Poe and the Unreadable: The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart. New Essays on Poes Major Tales. United States: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Poe, Allan. The Tell-Tale Heart. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, 1992. Web.
The short story The Tell-Tale Heart written by Edgar Allan Poe explores the experiences of a person who is overwhelmed by guilt. The author describes the emotions of a person who has committed a murder. His attempts to conceal the crime occupy a central place in this literary work. Overall, the writer shows that guilt deprives a person of his/her rationality and ability to perceive reality in an objective way. Moreover, this feeling often provokes a persons fear that cannot be explained in any way.
This is the main thesis that should be discussed. This goal is achieved with the help of various literary elements such as character development, setting, imagery, tone, and symbolism. These elements are important for understanding the peculiarities of a literary work (Roberts and Zweig 465).
First of all, one should focus on the main character. One can see that this person presents a conflicting account of the main events. For instance, at the beginning, he says, I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult (Poe 110). Yet, the narrator does not explain why he decides to murder the old man.
Moreover, one can say that the main character becomes hypersensitive. It seems to him that he can hear virtually every sound in the heaven and in the earth (Poe 110). Overall, people, who are overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety, often become very hypersensitive (Adler 97). This is one of the issues that can be distinguished.
Much attention should be paid to the point of view chosen by the author. He relies on the unreliable first-person narration. This technique helps the readers look at the events through the eyes of this individual.
It is possible to see that this person is unable to see the distinctions between imagination and reality. Additionally, the setting of the short story is not specified. The readers do not know when or where the action takes place. In this way, Edgar Poe wants to demonstrate that such experiences may be familiar to people who may represent various cultures.
Moreover, it is important to speak about the use of visual imagery. To a great extent, it is supposed to show that the main character cannot fully retain his sanity (Bloom 174). For example, while describing the old man, the narrator uses such a metaphor as vulture eye (Poe 112).
Edgar Poe uses this epithet to illustrate the irrational fear of the narrator. Moreover, one can mention such an image as hideous heart which continues to beat even after the death of the old man (Poe 113). This metaphor is necessary to show that the feeling of guilt distorts his perception of reality. Furthermore, this figurative language enables to show that the narrators tone is full of paranoia (Scott 166).
Finally, it is vital to speak about the symbolism of this short story. Edgar Poe focuses on the image of a heart which symbolizes the narrators guilt or his conscience (Einhorn 7). The main character wants to destroy it, but he fails to achieve this goal. This is one of the details that can be distinguished.
Overall, the discussion shows that Edgar Poe is able to able to make sure that various literary elements serve a single purpose. The behavior of the main character, narration, imagery, and symbolism are used to show how paranoia and guilt can transform the behavior of a person and his/she worldview. In this case, one should speak about the distorted perception of reality and increased sensitivity.
Works Cited
Adler, Alfred. The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler: Journal articles: 1898 1909, New York: Alfred Adler Institute, 2002. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Edgar Allan Poes the Tell-tale Heart and Other Stories, Boston: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Print.
Einhorn, Anja. Perverseness in Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart and Black Cat, New York: GRIN Verlag, 2002. Print.
Poe, Edgar. The Best Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, New York Digireads.com Publishing, 2010. Print.
Roberts, Edgar, and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing,Compact Edition (5th Edition). London: Longman, 2011. Print.
The short story The Tell-Tale Heart written by Edgar Allan Poe explores the experiences of a person who is overwhelmed by guilt. The author describes the emotions of a person who has committed a murder. His attempts to conceal the crime occupy a central place in this literary work. Overall, the writer shows that guilt deprives a person of his/her rationality and ability to perceive reality in an objective way. Moreover, this feeling often provokes a persons fear that cannot be explained in any way.
This is the main thesis that should be discussed. This goal is achieved with the help of various literary elements such as character development, setting, imagery, tone, and symbolism. These elements are important for understanding the peculiarities of a literary work (Roberts and Zweig 465).
First of all, one should focus on the main character. One can see that this person presents a conflicting account of the main events. For instance, at the beginning, he says, I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult (Poe 110). Yet, the narrator does not explain why he decides to murder the old man.
Moreover, one can say that the main character becomes hypersensitive. It seems to him that he can hear virtually every sound in the heaven and in the earth (Poe 110). Overall, people, who are overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety, often become very hypersensitive (Adler 97). This is one of the issues that can be distinguished.
Much attention should be paid to the point of view chosen by the author. He relies on the unreliable first-person narration. This technique helps the readers look at the events through the eyes of this individual.
It is possible to see that this person is unable to see the distinctions between imagination and reality. Additionally, the setting of the short story is not specified. The readers do not know when or where the action takes place. In this way, Edgar Poe wants to demonstrate that such experiences may be familiar to people who may represent various cultures.
Moreover, it is important to speak about the use of visual imagery. To a great extent, it is supposed to show that the main character cannot fully retain his sanity (Bloom 174). For example, while describing the old man, the narrator uses such a metaphor as vulture eye (Poe 112).
Edgar Poe uses this epithet to illustrate the irrational fear of the narrator. Moreover, one can mention such an image as hideous heart which continues to beat even after the death of the old man (Poe 113). This metaphor is necessary to show that the feeling of guilt distorts his perception of reality. Furthermore, this figurative language enables to show that the narrators tone is full of paranoia (Scott 166).
Finally, it is vital to speak about the symbolism of this short story. Edgar Poe focuses on the image of a heart which symbolizes the narrators guilt or his conscience (Einhorn 7). The main character wants to destroy it, but he fails to achieve this goal. This is one of the details that can be distinguished.
Overall, the discussion shows that Edgar Poe is able to able to make sure that various literary elements serve a single purpose. The behavior of the main character, narration, imagery, and symbolism are used to show how paranoia and guilt can transform the behavior of a person and his/she worldview. In this case, one should speak about the distorted perception of reality and increased sensitivity.
Works Cited
Adler, Alfred. The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler: Journal articles: 1898 1909, New York: Alfred Adler Institute, 2002. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Edgar Allan Poes the Tell-tale Heart and Other Stories, Boston: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Print.
Einhorn, Anja. Perverseness in Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart and Black Cat, New York: GRIN Verlag, 2002. Print.
Poe, Edgar. The Best Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, New York Digireads.com Publishing, 2010. Print.
Roberts, Edgar, and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing,Compact Edition (5th Edition). London: Longman, 2011. Print.
Mental illness is a wide range of conditions that affects mood,thinking, and behavior. Mental illness is something that affects not only the person in many ways but it also affects their friends and family. Some examples of some mental illnesses are clinical depression which is when the person is always down and they lose interest in activities causing significant impairment in their daily life. Another one is Schizophrenia which is a disorder that affects the person’s ability to think, feel and behave clearly. Just because a person is diagnosed with a mental illness doesn’t mean their life is over. There are many different ways they can be treated so they can live as close to a normal life as possible.
Depending on the diagnosis that changes the way it affects the person and the family. In many cases the family plays a big role because that’s the support system and they help out a lot with things the person can’t do. Mental illness affects a person’s thinking, feelings, and mood so they would need help to control their actions and emotions. The family also plays a big role because they are around you everyday and take care of you. But it also can affect families in negative ways too, it can split families because of the stress it causes. Paying for treatments can be expensive. When you are diagnosed with a mental illness it stops you from getting jobs or just delay the process and make it longer.
Schizophrenia is a serious disorder that affects the way a person thinks, feels and behaves. Some symptoms that may occur are hallucinations which include hearing voices and seeing things that aren’t there. Another symptom is delusions when you have a strong belief in something that isn’t true. Some negative symptoms are being just emotionally flat and disconnected from the world. People diagnosed with schizophrenia struggle to remember things and organize their thoughts. Causes of schizophrenia could be genetics, substance use, brain chemistry and your environment. I feel that Edgar could’ve been diagnosed with schizophrenia and delusional disorder.
There are many different ways to help mental illness. You can go to psychotherapy which is when you go to a counselor and you just have conversation about your feelings and how you’ve been. Another option is medication, it won’t cure you but it will help control and maintain the symptoms. Medication paired with psychotherapy is said to be the most effective way for recovery. Support groups are another way to help recovery. A support group is when there are a group of people with the same or similar problems/ illness and they talk to each other with a mental health professional and they guide the conversation. These may not work for everyone that’s why you have to find what works for you.
In the Tell-Tale heart Edgar lived with his elderly father and he was taking are of him. Edgar started to believe that he needed to kill his father. He felt that his father was always watching him and one of his eyes would bother Edgar, he believed it was evil. Everytime he would look at him he would freak out, he didn’t know why or how the thought of killing his father entered his head but it did. He would put his father to sleep and check his room every night around midnight. While he’s doing this he would think to himself that there’s no way he could be “mad” or “crazy” because he came up with such a great plan to kill his father. Edgar thought he was actually very wise. He believed that people who were mentally ill couldn’t be as wise as him. One night he went into the old man’s room and stepped on something that made the old man wake up. Edgar seemed to believed that the neighbors could hear the old man’s heart beating, he started to get scared because they would call the police if they heard how loud it was.
He dragged the old man off the bed and started to suffocate him. Once the he was dead he started to cut the old man’s body into pieces and hid it under the floor. Once he was done the police were at the door but Edgar wasn’t scared because he had a plan. Edgar told the police the old man was out of town and walked the police all over the house. He told them the loud noise was him screaming because of a bad dream. He brought them to the old man’s room to rest and gave them drinks. He places his own chair above where he put the old man’s body. While the police talked and laughed he started to feel sick. Edgar started to have an episode, he was yelling and going crazy. He wanted the police to leave because he could hear the heart and he thought they would too. He started to believe they knew what happened. He told them that he had killed him and started picking his body out of the floor. The short story ends with edgar in an insane asylum.
Edgar was showing obvious signs that he was insane. He would try to convince the audience that he was fine the more he talks is the more you begin to believe he isn’t okay. He starts off by saying “True! – nervous – very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” . He has many delusions. Delusions are when a person is paranoid and they can’t tell whats real and what’s fake. You have a very strong belief in what is actually untrue or not real. In Edgars case he believed that the old man’s heartbeat was loud enough for everyone to hear but it obviously wasn’t. Edgar also believed that when the police got there that they knew what he had done and that they were laughing at what he had done. The idea of known social behavior is more so complicated with large attributes.
With judgement when it comes to social, usually relies on an effective balance. Hindrance with these systems can for go unusual behavioral patterns and actions . When people convey behaviors that seem out of the ordinary ,and it results from past patterns in someone’s behavior, specialist and doctors are expected to take into consideration the outcomes that could be possible. Being apathetic towards actions that you have done is a clear indication of sociopathy. The idea is to not overlook but to explore the concept of sociopathy as an uncontrollable but growing problem.
It was evident throughout the reading that Edger had loved his father. However, due to him being mentally ill, though he denied it, its clear to say that he had to actual recollection of his actions. With disorders like schizophrenia and sociopathy it causes individuals to formulate a lack of empathy and the overall inability to feel emotions. Edger showed happiness for killing his father though he loved him. He is fully capable of feeling love and able to feel elated after hurting his dad; but because of his mental instability he doesn’t feel guilt or remorse. Just happiness and being content.
I feel that if Edgar would’ve gotten treatment before hand or had family to realize when he was showing symptoms then he would’ve never killed his father. But because it was only him and his father there was no stopping him. Edgar needed treatment and psychotherapy. He also needed guidance and or supervision. I feel like if someone was there they would have noticed that he was going to his father’s room at the same time every night. You can tell that he was no fit to take care of his father or be alone in a house like he was. It’s probably a good thing that he ended up in an insane asylum.
The moral of the story is that no matter how good you think you did something you can still get caught in some way. Edgar thought he was very wise in the way he killed his father but it wasn’t the crime scene that was going to give it away. Edgar couldn’t live with his guilty conscience eating at him. Especially when the police were there and he just couldn’t hold it in any longer. He gave himself up because he felt they already knew what was going on but at one point he had them convinced that he really didn’t do anything because he was so open to have them in his house and how content he was. But because he was insane and had a guilty conscious he wasn’t able to keep his secret.
Edgar fully executed what it truly means to have a mental disorder(s). He demonstrated good intelligence, lack of shame , and insincerity. After the police officers arrived to his home and Edgar gave himself up due to paranoia, this shows the schizophrenic side uprising. However when he finds happiness in the fact that he killed his father it shows his sociopathic nature. He believes that he was not mentally ill due to him being so smart. Little did he know that was a common nature in the mentally ill. Edgar may not have been “ crazy “ but he definitely did have serious mental issues that manifested itself in the worse way, resulting in the murder of his own father. With Edgar being put in a mental asylum, it gives him the opportunity to get closer to living a normal life. This way his surroundings are more equipped to his mental state.
The introductory part will present the The Tell- Tale heart (1843), by Alan Edgar Poe, introducing the main characters viz. the narrator and the old man. The story opens with the unknown narrator confessing he is restless but not harebrained or insane, as some would want to think.
He narrates his story by defending his sound mind although he has murdered an innocent old man. The narrator lives with the old man; however, he claims that his supposedly housemate has an evil blue eye that evokes fear in him (the narrator). At this point, the narrator is not trustworthy because he does not even understand himself; he does not know whether he is psychologically sick or he is just another murderer.
Character analysis
This section tackles the main characters of the story and as aforementioned, the narrator and the old man are the only central characters in the story. The narrator is untrustworthy, self-righteous and a rigid person who leaves no space for learning.
He believes he is sane despite the fact that he kills the old man for no apparent reason. His sanctimonious overtones infringe is trustworthiness. On the other hand, the old man is just a victim of malice or covered insanity.
Plot summary
The plot summary will outline the flow of the story where once more the narrator plays the central role. As the story opens, the narrator insinuates he is insane by declaring he has a story to tell; however, the story is a defense to guard his sanity. Therefore, the events of this section will focus on the narrator as he puts forward his claims of sanity.
However, to understand where all the sanity ‘noises’ are coming from, this section will flashback to the one event that seems to infringe the narrator’s insanity; the murder of the old man. Again, the narrator’s trustworthiness is compromised for by defending his actions, he unknowingly exposes his unreliability.
Themes
The overriding theme in this story is the theme of paranoia. As the story opens, the narrator acknowledges that he is nervous for reasons he does not know. The thin, almost confusing, or blurred line between paranoia and madness comes out clearly. People think paranoia is synonymous to madness and perhaps this explains why the narrator is vehement in defending his sanity.
Paranoia in this context also underscores the blurred line between hate and love according to Benfey (78). Ironically, many a time individuals hurt the closest people in their lives. In this section, the narrator is trustworthy; he loves and needs the old man, yet he kills him.
Internal versus external forces
Ironically, the presence of police officers who come to investigate the murder of the old man does not evoke any uneasiness in the narrator. However, the deafening sounds of fear and guilt that haunt the narrator seem to take away his peace. The narrator does not confess the murder because the offices push him; no, he confesses because of guilt and self-conviction.
At this point, the story tries to emphasize that internal forces are stronger than external forces. One can defy and deny external forces like rule of law; however, defying self-conviction is tantamount to committing suicide and the narrator comes out as a trustworthy source of this scenario.
Conclusion
The concluding part of the essay will try to piece together the ideas raised in the story. Running from introduction, though plot summary to themes; this section will give a concise recap of the whole story.
Works Cited
Benfey, Christopher. “Poe and the Unreadable: ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart.” New Essays on Poe’s Major Tales. United States: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Poe, Allan. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, 1992. Web.
If you’re writing a paper about Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart essay examples are a useful source of inspiration. You can find one such example here!
The Tell Tale Heart is a short story about a nameless narrator who commits murder. The narrator kills an old man who had a blue vulture like eye that made the narrator very uncomfortable. He plans the murder, executes it, and hides the body of the old man in the floorboard. The story falls under the gothic genre (Snodgrass, 2005). The story falls under the gothic category because it is a horror story that tells how a young narrator kills an old man in cold blood and dismembers his body in order to conceal his crime.
The killer claims he is sane and goes into details to explain how he executed the murder. However, when the police came to the Old Man’s house he gives himself away to the police because he hears the heart of the old man beating behind the floorboard and this incident may suggest that the narrator is in fact insane. The author of the story is Edgar Allan Poe an American author who was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts.
His parents David and Elizabeth died before Poe celebrated his second birthday. After their death, he lived with John and Frances Allan, a childless couple. His childhood was sad, he experienced death of his loved at a young age, and the deaths influenced his works, which have the theme of grisly deaths (Meyer, 2000). Poe’s s misery and suffering reverberates in his works and in popular culture today long after his death.
Poe’s story is culturally significant as it shows how the society was during his time. The people were beginning to have an interest in moral insanity (Bynum, 1989). For instance, it is difficult to tell why the narrator killed the old man at the end of the story was it insanity or plan evil disguised as fear of the pale blue eye? The narrator says that he loved the old man and the man had never wronged him yet he still kills the Old man.
The narrator’s sense of morality seems to be suspended because the brutal killing of the old man does not prick his or her conscience but disturbed by the thought that the police know who has committed the murder and only toying with the narrator’s mind. The story is economically successful even though Poe was not able to reap big economical gains from it and his other works and struggled economically.
The story is underpinned in the popular culture as people try to explain murders in which the perpetrators confess (Bloom, 2002). However, the story is economically successful because it has a large following today and it is still widely read. Moreover, the story has been adapted into the popular culture into various media such as television programs, movies that are widely watched and popular such as the Simpsons.
Lastly, the story reinforces the cultural values of moral insanity as the story tries to explain why some people commit horrendous murders to their beloved ones without a valid cause. In the society today, it is common to hear of stories about people killing people close to them for very funny reason like the prisoner in a jail who killed his cellmate because he heard voices tell him to commit the murder (Burrell, 2001).
The Tell Tale Heart is still a relevant story today as it shows how human beings can be demented and invokes people to look more into the lives and psychology mind of the people who commit despicable murders.
Reference List
Bloom, H. (2002). Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Infobase Publishing.
Burrell, I. (2001). Murderer who mutilated inmate locked up for life. Web.
In a nutshell, ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with human behavior and how people should live. Ethics deals with the capability to determine what is right or wrong. There are many ways to investigate ethics. There are many ways that can be used to determine if a decision made was the most ethical thing to do.
There are many ways that can be used to achieve that goal but an interesting method is to develop a short story to deal with ethical issues. This technique was used in the development of The Pond (Munro, 2000) and Tell-Tale Heart (Poe, 2004). These two stories examine the thoughts and feelings of someone who wanted to do something unethical.
In Munro’s The Pond there are at least three ethical issues. First of all, the heroine in the story contemplated suicide. She was always fascinated with death. She kept on talking about death in the same way that a person talks about their chauffeur that was about to fetch them. In other words she made people understand that at any moment the Angel of Death will come and whisk her away. Her morbid fascination with death graduated to suicidal thoughts when she married a man who did not share her interest in the spiritual realm.
Her husband pushed her to the breaking point because they had very little in common. She realized this problem a few days after her marriage. Their thoughts occupy different spheres. She was interested in the unseen while her husband was focused on the practical aspects of life.
He reasoned out that life has many troubles. His philosophy is supported by various events in his life as a farmer and businessman. He had to contend with different types of problems, from government related difficulties to pest control troubles in his farm.
His indifference towards his wife brings to the surface the second ethical issue. The secondary problem is related to an ethical dilemma with regards to the responsibility of the husband to provide and care for the family. It is an ethical dilemma because the husband is supposed to work hard in order to provide food, clothing and shelter for wife and children.
However, the wife and the children made demands beyond the scope of physical needs. They also demanded emotional fulfillment through the interactions in a husband and father relationship. The added demand is a problem because it requires time to take care of the farm and create a system that will yield a profit. However, it also requires time to establish an emotional connection with the family.
The problems at home brought to the surface the third ethical issue in the story. The other issue was not developed fully but it can be argued that the heroine of the story was so unhappy with the marriage that she wanted a way out. The conventional and legal way to break-up a marriage was not available to Mona and John.
If they lived in the big city, perhaps they could have availed of a legal remedy. But since they were in a rural area, marriage was expected to last for a lifetime and only death can separate them. It is the inability to find a solution to her predicament that led Mona to contemplate suicide. It has been made clear that these three different ethical dilemmas were all related to each other.
Munro investigated the ethical issues not by pointing out the best way to deal with the problem. The author presented the different aspects of the ethical issues and provides a framework for the reader to understand why it is called a dilemma. In other words, Munro found a way to examine the different components of the ethical problem to demonstrate that human beings are prone to these problems not because they are inherently bad, but because of the circumstances that they cannot control. Nevertheless, this does not suggest that suicide is an acceptable behavior. The moral of the story is that it is important to determine the underlying factors before judgment is made.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart there are two major ethical issues. The first one is the desire to kill a person not because of self-defense but fear. The action of the killer is questioned because of the motive. In most societies, the murder of a person is acceptable only on one condition and that is self-defense. The ability to take away the life of another is so contemptible that it is justified to kill to prevent the murder of an innocent person. Therefore, there is no greater sin than to murder an innocent man.
In the Tell-Tale Heart the man’s obsession to murder his employer was not only despicable it can be considered as an act of lunacy. This impression comes early in the reading of the story that the narrator himself became defensive and stated that it is unfair to judge his mental state and compare it to those who belong to the psychiatric ward of a hospital. But there is no other explanation for his bazaar behavior. He was the one who divulged that he had no ill-feeling toward his victim.
It is interesting to point out that in the examination of the ethical dilemma faced by the murderer he had to find a justification for his action. Thus, the author wanted to demonstrate that those who are guilty will always have the burden to prove their case.
Those who have nothing to hide are not bothered by this need. But those who are guilty, the need to clarify their motives and the need to present the rationale for their action forced them to find someone who can empathize with them. It is illustrated in the story through the manic behavior of the killer.
The killer said that he was nervous and this confession reminds the reader that the business of taking away another person’s life is never going to be a pleasant experience. The author made it clear that a murderer is still a human being and subjected to the same emotional burdens that accompany an action that is considered barbaric in many cultures.
However, the author also illustrated the reason why a murderer continues with the plan even when confronted with vexed emotions and other factors that make it extremely difficult to carry out the plan.
In the story the author pointed out that the fear of being caught and the fear of legal repercussion is overpowered by the nagging feeling of discomfort that only the killer can understand. In this particular case, the killer feared the “eye” of the victim.
He was so frustrated and so uncomfortable every time the victim gazes at him. It created in him such a level of discomfort that the only way to relieve that pain and to correct the problem is to find a way to close the eye forever. There is no other option for him other than to take away the life of his employer.
The second ethical issue that was addressed in the story is the problem when it comes to covering up the crime. The negative feeling of covering up the deed is linked to the consequences if the perpetrator of the crime is apprehended by the authorities. The killer succeeded in eliminating what he believed was a threat to his well-being. However, the eradication of his employer will have no value if he is apprehended by the authorities. Thus, the same energy used to commit the crime was the same energy expended for the cover-up.
One can just imagine the stress and the anxiety that the killer felt as he worked overnight and overtime to conceal the crime. He said that he worked with the speed of the wind but he was able to accomplish all of that in silence. There is no need to elaborate how difficult it is to work without creating a sound.
Pulling out the planks from the floor in a normal manner is a tremendously difficult task. But if one will add another requirement, which is to remove the boards without creating a sound to alert the neighbor, it will require double effort. There is the need to apply strength to remove the board and another extra effort not to let any vibration or collision of objects in order to prevent unnecessary noise.
The author illustrated the difficulty felt by the murderer before the crime was committed and after the criminal act was brought to completion. The author did not only provide a way to present an ethical dilemma but also made it clear that the criminals suffer from the consequences of their actions. They suffer not only from the legal ramifications of their actions but also from the torment that they received from a conscience that bothers them continuously.
The secondary problem discussed in the story is the difficulty of covering up the crime. The killer experiences changes in demeanor as well as thought patterns. In this particular case, the killer was so distraught about the whole criminal act that he was forced to the brink of a mental breakdown. He tried to keep it under control. But when the investigators came to pay him a visit, everything was unraveled. He could no longer control his emotions and he began to see and hear things.
The author made it clear that guilt as a result of a non-resolution of an ethical dilemma or the violation of an ethical standard can result in unpleasant mental and emotional effects. The conscience of that person will continue to hound him until he can no longer deal with the consequences of his actions.
Conclusion
Ethical dilemmas were present in both stories. The main characters were faced with problems that made them emotionally and mentally unstable. Both authors attempted to point out that there is an underlying reason why a person is forced to commit a crime or to break a particular ethical standard. Munro and Poe did not develop a legal discourse in order to show the difference between acceptable and non-acceptable behavior.
They used a different strategy to investigate the ethical dilemmas in the story. They made it clear that an unacceptable behavior can make life difficult for the person. But indirectly, they were able to show that it is important to find out the reason behind an action because most of the time people are forced to violate an ethical standard to find relief to an emotional or mental struggle.
Being a master craftsman of dark fictions, Edgar Allan Poe keeps his characters nameless in his most mysterious, complex and psychological tale “The Tell Tale Heart”. The story takes the reader to a world of horror and insanity. Even though the whole story is narrated in first person, nothing regarding the narrator is revealed in the story; however, he is indirectly characterized through his words and actions. The story has paved way for a lot of debates regarding the insanity and the reliability of the narrator’s personality. The narrator in the beginning of the story clearly states that he is not insane but his actions make the reader frown at his sanity. The story, written in first person, sounds to be a narration that directly affects the listener and Poe’s narrative techniques keep the reader tensed and horror-stricken throughout the story.
The repetitive outbursts of the narrator throughout the story regarding his sanity make the reader to question his sanity. The narrator in the opening paragraph makes it very clear that the fact that he is nervous should not be taken for being mad or insane. For him, the malady has only “sharpened (his) senses –not destroyed –not dulled them”. He tries to restate that he is normal by boasting that he can tell a story so ‘calmly’ and ‘stealthily’. Ruffner, Courtney J., Jeff Grieneisen, and Harold Bloom(2002) deals in detail with the insanity of the narrator in “The Tell Tale Heart”. They identify that “Poe considered madness a purely intellectual entanglement”. Poe makes every effort in the story to present his narrator sane, credulous and as an intelligent genius. As Ruffner, Courtney J., Jeff Grieneisen, and Harold Bloom(2002) rightly puts it: “Poe uses rhetorical disclaimers to confuse this idea of insanity, and, in turn, manages to trick his readers into trusting the narrators” and even though the narrator in the tale tries to manipulate “the reader into trusting him, the pattern of insanity prevails throughout this tale”.( Intelligence: Genius or Insanity? Tracing Motifs in Poe’s Madness Tales. Bloom’s Bio Critiques: Edgar Allan Poe) The narrator tries to convince the listeners that he is quite sane and he wants to show that he is even cleverer than others by taking all the necessary precautions to cover up his cruel deed.
The way he boasts of his cunning preparations is evident when he exhorts the reader: “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded –with what caution –with what foresight –with what dissimulation I went to work!” The perseverance shown by the narrator in the execution of his plans, the way he dismembered the corpse into various parts by cutting away the arms and the legs, how he keeps away even a single blood stain from the pot and the way he receives the policemen quite innocently suggest that he was conscious of what he was doing. But there is no doubt that he was morally insane and so his actions can never be taken for granted: “Because the reader knows that the morally insane may have a perfectly normal intellect, the use of such evidence to propose sanity is vacuous, and such vacuity calls into question the very authority and reliability of the narrator”( Ruffner, Courtney J., Jeff Grieneisen, and Harold Bloom, 2002)
The narrator tries to rationalize the cruel deed that he has undertaken. But the reason that he offers for the murder is quite unconvincing and unreliable. Throughout the story one finds the words of the narrator quite contrary and disputing. For instance, he states that he loved the old man as he has not done him any wrong. He does not desire for the wealth or gold of the old man either. According to him, he killed the old man out of the single reason that he “had the eye of a vulture” that turned the narrator’s blood cold. This is again highlighted by the narrator when he confesses that he could not undertake the evil deed for seven long nights as the old man’s eyes were closed; he confides, “for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye”. Thus, the readers are expected to show sympathy for the narrator or rather he prepares his listeners to join him for the crime through his rationalization. This is very well echoed by Paul Witherington(1987) when he observes: “Pretending to share with the listener a universal concern for reason, the narrator seduces the listener by getting him to participate vicariously in the crime, an accomplice after the fact”( THE ACCOMPLICE IN ‘THE TELL-TALE Studies in Short Fiction 22.4 (Fall 1985)
The insanity of the narrator is associated with his inner feelings of hallucinations and notions of death. One is sure to grasp that the narrator suffers from some sort of psychological imbalance. As observed by Hollie Pritchard, “The actions of the narrator, combined with his insistence that he is not mad, lead readers to determine that he must suffer from some psychological disorder” (Pritchard, Hollie. Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart. Explicator; Spring 2003, Vol.61 Issue 3, p.1440. This is evident when he judges the groan of the old man as “the groan of mortal terror” which he has experienced many times. However, he feels sadistic pleasure in it and chuckles at his heart. His feeling of hallucination is made clear towards the end of the story when the reader finds him hearing the steady noise of the old man’s beating of the heart which the police men could not hear. His heart is at the verge of a breaking point and he can no longer suffer the mental and psychological agony that haunts him and this makes him cry: “I admit the deed!…It is the beating of his hideous heart!” Harold Bloom (1999) considers the story as “a breathless, frightening monologue of the disintegration of consciousness and conscience under the onslaught of obsession. In it we watch in horror as a man externalizes his madness to expel and conquer his obsession, only to destroy both an innocent victim and himself” (Bloom, Harold. “Plot Summary of “The Tell-Tale Heart”.” Bloom’s Major Short Story Writers: Edgar A. Poe (1999). There is no doubt that the narrator has disinherited his conscience and he is no better than a brute animal. He shows no feelings of remorse and is at ease with himself.
Poe’s use of literary devices like foreshadowing, irony and vivid symbolism makes the whole story rich; it helps to capture the attention of the reader and keep him in awe in the way the cold blooded murder is undertaken and executed. In the very first paragraph of the story itself, Poe foreshadows the plight of the central character where the narrator remarks: “Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and the earth. I heard many things in hell.” At the end of the story it is this sense of hearing acute that spoils all his effort to hide his actions. Similarly, symbolism plays a key role in adding to the tension and the horror atmosphere in the story. The heartbeat in the story acts as the greatest symbol.
Even though the narrator believes that it is the heart beat of the dead old man, a careful reading of the story convinces the reader that it was the narrator’s own which may have resulted from his inner prick of conscience and feelings of guilt. Repetition is very effectively employed by Poe to bring about an atmosphere of tension, horror and terror. Expressions like “I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously –cautiously”, “It grew louder –louder –louder!”, “I moved it slowly –very, very slowly” etc add to the tensed mood of the reader and keeps him/her in suspense. The uses of apt similes, hyperbole and onomatopoeia have also contributed to the unity of the work. The old man’s eyes are being compared to the ‘eye of a vulture’ and his room “as black as pitch with the thick darkness’. Most of the actions undertaken by the narrator are ironic. The greatest irony in the story is that the narrator in the story does everything to conceal his cruel deed but in the end he confesses hid deed to the policemen.
Thus, Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell Tale Heart” is a violent representation of human relationships and the mysterious workings of the human mind. The whole story is centred on the main character- the narrator, and the old man proves himself to be a poor victim. Even the setting of the novel assumes secondary significance. The narrator’s insanity is of course resulted from his psychological disorders and mental agony. According to Harold Bloom, “the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” is pursued by the violence and agony of his madness as he tries and ultimately fails to project it outwards away from himself. As the destruction of the old man reflects upon the narrator, we watch in horror the splintering of the mind.”(Bloom, Harold. List of Characters in “The Tell Tale Heart”. Bloom’s Major Short Story Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, 1999: 44-45.). One is shocked and plunged in gloom after reading the story. The impact of the story is so powerful that even the reader may experience the agony that the narrator was in. As the title suggests the story takes one to the heart of the narrator, the old man and makes one to look inwardly into one’s own.
Works Cited
Ruffner, Courtney J., Jeff Grieneisen, and Harold Bloom. Intelligence: Genius or Insanity? Tracing Motifs in Poe’s Madness Tales. Bloom’s BioCritiques: Edgar Allan Poe (2002):43-63. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Roberts Memorial Library, Cochran, GA. 2008
Witherington, Paul. THE ACCOMPLICE IN ‘THE TELL-TALE Studies in Short Fiction 22.4 (Fall 1985): 471. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Roberts Memorial Library, Cochran, GA. 2008.
Bloom, Harold. “Plot Summary of “The Tell-Tale Heart”.” Bloom’s Major Short Story Writers: Edgar A. Poe (1999): 40-43. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. Web.
Bloom, Harold. List of Characters in “The Tell Tale Heart”. Bloom’s Major Short Story Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, 1999: 44-45. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. Web.
Pritchard, Hollie. Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart. Explicator; Spring 2003, Vol.61 Issue 3, p.144. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation].
Looking for The Tell-Tale Heart psychological analysis? This term paper focuses on the themes, symbolism, and point of view in the short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It also reviews the mental disorder that the narrator suffers from.
The Tell-Tale Heart is one of the most famous works by Edgar Poe. The outstanding character in the tale, who is also the narrator, attracts a lot of attention from the readers. The character reveals much about human nature and other self qualities that people tend to overlook.
Themes of death, egoism, and evil are found in most of Poe’s works. The same case applies to The Tell-Tale Heart as evidenced by the analysis in this paper. The analysis focuses on the main character and narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart. The analysis is conducted from a psychological approach.
There are various forms of literary psychological criticism. In this paper, the author uses the Freudian psychological approach to analyse Poe’s work. The narrator forms the basis of the tale. All the themes in the story revolve around them.
The literary critique explores the themes of death, ego, and evil as reflected in Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. The themes of ego and evil are featured prominently in this critical review.
The two contribute immensely to the narrator’s actions. The literary criticism of the tale seeks to answer the question of human ego-evil relationship and associated psychological justifications. Freud’s psychological approach serves in analysing the narrator’s actions towards the old man.
The Tell-Tale Heart Summary
Edgar Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart tale adopts the first person perspective. The main character also assumes the role of the narrator. He begins the story by arguing that they are sane and not mad as people are saying.
The narrator says, “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” (Poe par. 1). However, Poe does not tell the reader whether the narrator is a male or a female. The usage of the connotation ‘He’ does not describe definite gender of the narrator, but just as an assumption.
The narrator admits that they are sick. However, they insist that the disease has sharpened their senses. The disease has not made them mad. In a bid to prove their sanity to the audience, the narrator embarks on the story. The events told in the story take place in a house where the narrator lives with an old man as a companion. The narrator claims that they loved the old companion very much.
As such, they did not have any reason or desire to kill him, not even for his money. The narrator reveals that they loved the old man. They were in good terms with the old man, and the narrator was not interested in stealing from him (Poe par. 2).
However, it appears that the old man had a deformed eye that instigated the narrator to commit the murder. In fact, if it were not for the eye, the story would have been very different. It follows then that the narrator has a motive to kill the old man.
Consequently, they scheme on how to execute the heinous crime. For seven consecutive nights, they stalked the companion throughout. They went to the extent of intensifying their affection for him to keep him close. On the eighth night, an opportunity presented itself and the narrator killed the old man.
The act of murder execution proceeds with extreme caution and the body concealment. However, a last minute shriek by the old man, or probably the excited yell of the narrator, changed the events. The arrival of police officers to the scene immediately after the crime attests to this.
The police arrived to a warm welcome from the narrator. Their arrival, they attribute to a scream they had been alerted to having emanated from the house. The police search the entire building but find nothing. Eventually, the narrator invited the two police officers into the deceased old man’s bedroom for a chat.
While there, however, the narrator imagined hearing the old man’s heartbeat. The heartbeat got louder and louder as the narrator and the two police officers chatted away in the bedroom. Finally, the imaginary noise freaked the narrator out. Eventually admits to having killed the old man, and in proof of his crime shows the police officers where he hid the dismembered body.
The Tell-Tale Heart Literary Analysis
Plot: Psychological Journey
Poe adopts a very interesting approach in writing the story. The main character, who also performs the heinous murderous act, tells the story. As a result, we assume the story is a confession. The confession is evident given that even the narrator insists they can prove their sanity to the audience.
The location of the story remains unclear. However, an analysis of the story creates the impression that the location is a courtroom. Such an assumption looks fair given that the court could have declared the narrator to be of unsound mind. The story ends with the narrator revealing to the police officers where he hid the body. As such, it is likely that they are making the confession while under arrest.
The Tell-Tale Heart Themes
Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart story is riddled with a number of themes. The numbers of themes vary depending on the analytical approach chosen to review the story. As already indicated, the current analysis relies on the psychological approach of literary critique. Hence, from the perspective of this approach, it appears that several themes are apparent in the story.
The main themes in the story include ego, murder, evil, obsession, insanity, and guilt. Others include reality viewpoints, justification, time, and cleverness. The themes of evil, ego, murder and insanity are very dominant in the story.
From the start of the story, the narrator insists on being sane. Consequently, the narrator details their heinous crime to prove their sanity. Even after the detailed narration, the narrator still insists on their sanity. They insist that they took a lot of precautions to cover their tracks, something that can only be done by a sane man (Poe par. 8).
In a number of instances, the narrator reminds the audience how cleverly they executed the murder. The assertion is evident when they claim, “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!” (Poe par. 3).
Despite the frantic effort to convince his sanity, the narrator falls under Freud’s psychic zone of id. The id zone has a number of distinct characteristics. It is characterised by an excitement that is disorganized and lacks will. It is an impulsive drive that is aimed at satisfying the instincts and pleasures of the individual (Freud 103).
About the theme of murder, the narrator’s motive is amusing, if not ridiculous. The ‘admitted motive’ is evident when the narrator says that the old man had the eye of a vulture. They describe it as “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 forever” (Poe par. 2).
The execution of the heinous crime is almost perfect. The narrator leaves no trace behind. However, their confession raises doubts about their sanity. It is clear that the narrator is a ruthless murderer, considering how they killed and dismembered the old man’s body for concealment.
The theme of obsession, and in some part that of guilt, is apparent from the beginning of the story. The desire to murder the old man increases whenever the narrator sees his deformed eye. It appears the narrator is obsessed with the deformed eye. The obsession to murder the old man based on his bad eye intensifies when the narrator sees him in bed.
The narrator does not exhibit obvious psychological motives. However, killing the old man based on the feelings the eye stirs in them is an indication of a possible motive. Indeed, motives for individual actions arise from thoughts, feelings, and fantasies. The narrator fantasises killing the old man, revealing this aspect of human thinking in the process.
Such an obsession and the narrator’s erratic behaviour, together with how they narrate the story, leave no doubt that they are insane. In fact, the narrator believes that the heartbeat of the dead old man nearly drove them insane to the extent of confessing to the crime. They describe how they shrieked and showed the police where they had hidden the body (Poe par. 10).
The Tell-Tale Heart Character Analysis
The story has six major characters. They include narrator, the old man (who ends up as the victim), the neighbour, and the three police officers. However, the story revolves more around the narrator and the old man than it does around the other characters.
In fact, one can argue that the narrator and the old man are the main characters. The other four are just supporting characters. Poe is not clear on the identity of the narrator’s audience. It is not clear whom the narrator is trying to convince with the confession.
The Tell-Tale Heart Narrator
Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart revolves a lot around human nature. Human nature is made evident from the narrator’s viewpoint. The narrator is very confident in the execution of the heinous crime. They are confident enough to confess about the same. The desire to prove their sanity is even more intriguing. As a result, the narrator creates a picture of self-worthiness, self-conviction, and lack of remorse.
The narration turns out to be a perfect rhetoric in relation to the narrator. From the beginning to the end of the story, the narrator makes the reader view their deeds with contempt a number of times. Perhaps, as Zimmerman puts it, The Tell-Tale Heart is in real sense a form of courtroom rhetoric-judicial. It is a form of forensic oratory (Zimmerman Frantic Forensic Oratory 34).
The narrator appears determined to convince someone with his or her confession. The determination is evident when they insist that mad men know nothing (Poe par. 3). The narrator’s reference to “you” clearly shows that they are addressing someone else.
Perhaps the narrator is writing to or conversing with this ‘you’. The narrator tries to persuade and guide the audience to their point of view. Essentially, it is clear that the narrator has already confessed to the crime. They have already shown the police the body before their confession (Poe par. 10).
The narrator is defending themselves in the story. They do not regard the heinous act with any remorse or contempt. From this analysis, one can argue that the story reveals one major aspect of human nature that is inherent to many individuals. Generally, many people tend to overlook their individual flaws and faults. They may do everything in their power to cover up these flaws and faults (Bonaparte 32).
Ki points out the theme of “ego-evil”, which underlies the ‘main’ human nature highlighted in the narration (25). By definition, ego-evil refers to human behaviour that is, according to Zizek (70), driven by the desire for selfish gains and greed.
Such behaviour is very apparent concerning the conduct of the narrator. When one disregards the sanity of the narrator, which they seem to assert loudly, a sensible motive for their action is lost. In the words of the narrator, the old man had not done anything to anger them, “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me” (Poe par. 2).
From the discourse above, it is apparent that associating the narrator with ego-evil behaviour is logical. In essence, the narrator’s actions are motivated by some form of ideological ideal. The actions also emanate from their fanatical devotion (Ki 25).
The narrator’s egocentrism is apparent in their ‘over-identification’ with the views they hold. Such a trait on the part of the narrator ultimately leads to a form of “narcissistic ‘denigradation’ of others and violation of human laws” (Zizek 70).
The narrator claims killing the old man due to his bad eye. In essence, the narrator admits the old man’s vulture eye is what made them commit the offense (Poe par. 2). Such an explanation tells a lot about the narrator’s state of mind. Regarding the old man’s eye as identical to that of a vulture gives the narrator the motivation they need to commit the crime.
With such an attitude, they could easily kill the man without any remorse. As such, the narrator judged the old man based on personal affections, rather than on truth. Ki (25) explains this behaviour from a psychological perspective.
According to Ki (25), an intentional misjudgement of another person is an indication of the shortcomings of the self. It means that the self lacks insight (Ki 25). Killing the old man would rid the narrator the ‘torturing’ eye. Such an explanation appears valid from a psychological perspective.
The narrator is a true representation of ‘self-misrepresentation’. Their character also shows the narrator has ‘misdirected’ sense of self-worth and self-righteousness. Both of these aspects are blown out of proportion concerning the narrator. From the onset of the narrative, the persona appears determined to point out their strengths, which are in doubt.
In their narration, the persona says that the disease has only made their senses shaper. They claim to have heard things from heaven and from earth. According to them, this is proof enough that they are sane and not mad (Poe par. 1).
The narrator’s sense of self is terrible, especially with regards to their senses. Such a convoluted sense of self leads to another conclusion. The conclusion is that the narrator is psychotic. The psychotic nature of the narrator is the first impression created in the mind of the reader at the beginning of the narrative. However, the narrator endeavours to prove otherwise in the narrative.
Further analysis of the narration reveals that the persona is a ‘self-positing’ individual. They try to create the impression of an individual who is very right. They claim that they discovered their powers on that night. They were so happy when they discovered how intelligent they are (Poe par. 4). Such a ‘perception of self’ means that the narrator likes to exercise their powers on others.
Perceptions of own power, triumph, and sagacity also portray the narrator as a person who likes to dominate the helpless. The old man was asleep and half-blind due to the darkness and his bad eye, yet the narrator was triumphant of killing him. Pitcher (232) portrays the narrator in Poe’s tale as someone living in a universe where the self is the only god that exists.
Eventually, it is apparent that the narrator fails miserably to convince the audience of their sanity or self-importance. According to Melville (34), the narrator appears to fully understand the various techniques of argument. They are trying desperately to convince the audience.
Initially, the narrator indicates that they are aware of what the audience thinks of them. The narrator is aware that the audience considers them as a hostile, nervous, and lunatic person. Because of this awareness, the narrator attempts to win over the good will of whoever is listening to them.
The narrator lodges an appeal to the audience’s sense of reason to mitigate the hostility directed towards them. Such an appeal is also aimed at making the audience more receptive. The narrator tells the audience that they wish they were there when they were committing the offense. The audience, according to the narrator, would have seen for themselves how efficient and wise they (the narrator) are (Poe par. 3).
The narrator strategically makes use of concession as a means of ethical appeal. They try to impress the audience by proving that they can make frank confessions. They create the impression that they are a good person with a strong and confident streak. They try to prove that they can confidently concede and nullify opposing points of view.
The nature of Poe’s character in the story can be summed up from John Claggart’s psychoanalysis perspective (as cited in Melville). Thus, “the narrator’s even temper and discerning bearing would seem to point to an individual peculiarly exposed to the law of reason” (Melville 76). The narrator has little or nothing to do with reason.
They only employ it as an ‘ambidexterity’ means of irrational affections. Such evaluation implies that the narrator is engaging in wanton atrocities that appear to be the reserve of the insane. They are engaging in such acts based on very ‘direct’ and ‘cool’ judgement. As such, one can conclude that the narrator is a mad man and very dangerous.
Conclusion
According to Zimmerman (Moral Insanity or Paranoid Schizophrenia? 42), Poe effectively maintains an objective distance in telling the story and watches as the reader tackles the etiological irony that follows. Poe uses rhetoric consciously and deliberately in most of his homicidal tales.
He also engages in irony in most of his arguments. Most of Poe’s characters try to justify their actions using ‘reasonable’ excuses that are not so ‘reasonable’. Such an approach is apparent in The Tell-Tale Heart story.
Works Cited
Bonaparte, Marie. The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe: A Psycho-Analytic Interpretation, London: Hogarth P., 1949. Print.
Freud, Sigmund. Dream Psychology: Psychoanalysis for Beginners, New York: James A. McCann Co., 1920. Print.
Ki, Magdalen. “Ego-Evil and the Tell-Tale Heart.” Renascence 61.1 (2008): 25-38. Print.
Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor, Chicago: University of Chicago, 1962. Print.
Pitcher, Edward. “The physiognomical meaning of Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart.” Studies in Short Fiction 16.3 (1979): 231-233. Print.
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” depicts the narrator’s attempts at justifying his cruel intent of killing an elderly man with whom he shares an apartment because the elderly man keeps looking at the narrator with supposed “evil eyes”. When he eventually accomplishes his mission, the extreme guilt that arises from his cruel act makes him involuntarily confess to his hideous crime that he had killed the old man and hidden his dismembered corpse under a wooden floor.
In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Birth Mark”, Aylmer, a researcher, scientist and analyst refuses to accept his wife’s beautiful appearance because of his discomfort with a birthmark she spots on her left cheek. His selfish desire to remove the birthmark from her, so that her beauty may be ‘complete’ and wholesome without the blemish of the birthmark on her cheek, makes Georgina acquiesce to a procedure to have the birthmark removed. Tragically, after the procedure, though the birthmark disappears, Georgina dies.
In the film “The Black Swan” directed by Darren Aronofsky, Nina struggles to fit into the ultimate role of the play “The Swan Lake”, as the Black Swan, even though she is comfortable playing the role of the White Swan. However, because she has to fit into both roles naturally, her attempts on perfecting the role of the black Swan lead her on a surreal journey of self-discovery, fights with her mother, drug abuse and her ultimate perfection of the two roles.
Thesis: The characters in the two short stories and film portray a sense of Gothic Romanticism through their various quests for idealism, perfection and personal and social freedom; their justification for seeking the various states of idealism; their intense emotional reactions and activities; and their detachment from reality through hallucinations and the surreal nature of their existence.
In both the short stories and film, the characters are in pursuit of an ideal state of freedom signified by attempting perfection. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator’s morbid craving for the freedom from the supposed wicked glare from the elderly man informs his desire to kill the elderly man.
In the narrator’s view, the elderly man is a sort of hindrance to his own peaceful and stress-free existence, and the narrator believes that by eliminating the elderly man, his life will be peaceful. In the narrator’s wicked and mentally unstable mind, a state of peace and serenity can only be achieved from the death of his ‘tormentor’, the old man, whose eyes the narrator feel stare at him in a way that makes his life miserable.
In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Birthmark”, Aylmer is not satisfied with his wife’s physical beauty. Georgina is beautiful, comes across as an ideal wife because she is well behaved, a good homemaker, and supports her husband in all his endeavors. Ideally, Aylmer should be satisfied with such a wife. However, the small matter of the birthmark on his wife’s cheek makes him overlook all the positive attributes of his wife. Aylmer desires a higher state of perfection consistent with romanticism (Lalla 4).
He wants his wife to be ‘perfect’ without the blemish of the birthmark on her cheek. Persons who have interacted with Georgina find her beautiful. They accept her even with the birthmark, which they did not find offensive or off-putting. Many other men actually thought that the birthmark even served to enhance her exquisite looks. However, because her husband found the birthmark off-putting, Georgina herself begins to take a similar view.
In a desire to please her husband and satisfy his need to remove the birthmark, she accepts to take the concoction that would eliminate the birthmark, make their lives wholesome, and leave her with an ideal physical beauty without any blemishes.
Aylmer and Georgina thus seek a state of idealism characteristic of romanticism in their quest for physical perfection (Boutin 510). In their own wisdom, they refuse to accept the physical form that nature grants to Georgina, and seek to perfect her beauty.
In the film “The Black Swan”, Nina is also on a quest for perfection. Following her audition for the role of the Swan Queen, she fails to impress the director of the play. She however follows the director to plead her case, insisting that she is the best fit for the role of the Swan Queen.
Nina is willing to engage in affairs, abuse drugs and even upset her relationship with her mother in her zeal and endeavors to deliver a perfect performance as the Swan Queen. Her intense need and desire to deliver a virtuoso performance as the Swan Queen takes precedence over all other matters in her life.
Additionally, Romanticism stands out in the short stories and the film when all the major characters justify, or attempt to justify, their dissatisfaction with the current state of their lives. The characters refuse to accept the status quo, and thus aim to change their circumstances, sometimes at high cost (Bar-Yosef 150).
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator refuses to accept the state of affairs whereby the elderly man exists and thus continues to torture him with his evil stare. The narrator elaborately and extensively plans the murder. He is willing to steal into the old man’s room at mid-night for eight consecutive nights in order to carry out his plan comprehensively without mishaps.
As far as the narrator is concerned, the elderly man is responsible for taking away his peace of mind, and he is thus willing to go to great lengths to carry out a successful murder that according to him will finally give him his peace of mind. Instead of waiting for nature to take its cause by having the old man die of natural causes, the narrator decides to take matters into his own hands and kills the elderly man. The narrator’s justification for this vile act is that the old man was a hindrance to his peaceful existence.
The narrator, possibly a servant of the old man, refuses to accept his servitude. He expresses his need for freedom by murdering his master, in the hope of gaining personal and psychological freedom that that the old man may have denied him. The old man represents an authority figure, and romanticism ideals abhor all forms of authority and promote personal freedom (Boutin 511).
In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Birthmark”, Aylmer justifies the need for eliminating the birthmark on his wife’s cheek by stating that she would subsequently acquire perfect beauty. According to him, the birthmark prevents him from loving his wife in a wholesome manner. Aylmer confesses to believing in the power of man over nature, and transfers this belief onto his wife, who subsequently also believes that nature had been slightly unfair on her by placing the offensive birthmark on her.
Their justification thus stems from the belief that nature does not hold the ultimate destiny of a person, which is an idea prevalent in Romanticism (Boutin 513). Aylmer thus undertakes on an elaborate experiment in his vast laboratory in an attempt to concoct a portion that would eliminate the birthmark on Georgina’s cheek, and herald a new chapter in their lives, free from the worries of the birthmark.
In the film “The Black Swan”, Nina refuses to take less than a role as the Swan Queen. Since her mother had to discontinue with her career in order to give birth to her, Nina carries with her an ambitious drive to achieve more than her mother does as a dancer does.
When the play’s director Thomas Leroy tells her that another dancer, Lily, has the qualities to play the role that Nina desperately desires, she resolves to befriend Lily. Nina develops a friendship with Lily so that she may learn from her and perhaps acquire the characteristics to play the role of the White Swan as well as the Black Swan successfully.
Nina receives the news that her rigid nature is unsuitable for playing the role of the Black Swan, but she undertakes to train in loosening her rigidity in dance. Therefore, Nina refuses to accept the status quo that imposed by nature, where her rigid state reflects her personality. She successfully overcomes her natural condition to play the role of the black swan successfully.
Another feature of Romanticism in the two short stores and the film is the intensity of emotions involved in the decisions and choices that the characters make.
According to Vincent, Romanticism seems tied to fierce liberalism (610). In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator is intensely emotional in his quest to justify his intensions to murder the elderly man in the house, and the subsequent guilt that engulfs him also points to his massive psychological reaction to his actions. After killing the old man, the visit by the two officers unravels his sense of control over the whole affair.
Having convinced himself that he had committed the “perfect murder”, he soon begins to doubt his actions. While the officers were busy making small talk about things unrelated to the murder, the narrator begins to imagine that they are talking about him and that the officers were convinced he had killed the old man.
The more the officers talk, the more the narrator – consumed by his guilt – is convinced that the officers had discovered his crime. His sense of guilt multiplies and he finally crumbles, confessing his crime in a singular outburst. His guilt makes him believe that the old man’s heartbeat was still beating and that the officers were able to hear it.
Similarly, in the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorn, Aylmer undergoes intense emotional upheavals as he tries to convince his wife to get rid of the birthmark. When Georgina eventually comes round, he is then faced with the prospect of coming up with a chemical that will effectively carry out his plans of eliminating the birthmark.
Georgina also undergoes intense emotional re-evaluation in the days leading up to her ‘operation’ to eliminate the birthmark. While she desires her husband to love her unconditionally (with the birthmark), the fact that he is uncomfortable with it makes her uncomfortable with it too. Their intense emotions come to a climactic end when, first Georgina, then Aylmer, realize that the portion she had taken was killing her.
After Nina fails to impress in her audition for a role as the Swan Queen, she immediately begins to do all within her efforts to assume that role. She subsequently fights a lot with her mother.
The strain of trying to be the best dancer takes a heavy emotional toll on her and she begins to abuse the drug ecstasy in order to find some sense of peace from her chaotic existence. Amidst all the intensity and emotions, she cries a lot, practices her role to perfection and engages in an affair with the director of the play. In the end, all the people she confronts in her quest for balance in her life applaud her performance in the end of the film.
Another feature of Romanticism found in the two short stories and the film is the depiction of acts and visions born out of hallucinations by the characters/actors, as well as portrayal of surreal existences. Klemm states that elements of death and hallucinations litter Romantic texts (625). In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator is an unreliable narrator.
His stream of thought clearly portrays him to be mentally unstable, and he seems to enjoy torturing the old man by sneaking to his room at night and leaving him frightened and guessing about whom or what might have entered his room at night. The narrator exists in his own self-created world where he sets his own rules and draws his own conclusions concerning the behavior of those around him.
He has irrationally convinced himself that the old man’s eyes portend evil for him. In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Birthmark”, Aylmer creates his own rules about life that are quite different from those prevalent in his contemporary society. He believes that man has absolute control over nature, and he spends his time locked in his vast laboratories conducting experiments.
He is convinced that the birthmark on his wife is a mistake by nature that he intends to correct. Because he believes in his convictions, he leads a surreal life far removed from contemporary reality, and in the end, he looses his wife while she undergoes an unnecessary procedure to eliminate birthmark with which he is personally obsessed.
Finally, in the film “The Black Swan” Nina’s hallucinations drive her towards physical self-harm. Her drug use removes her from the reality of life and she begins to hallucinate and exist on an almost different sphere of reality – imagining sex scenes and fights with non-existent persons.
In conclusion, the two short stories and the film contain various elements of Gothic Romanticism. As discussed in the paper, the characters are involved in a search for personal and communal freedom and a sense of perfection and idealism in their lives. They are also apt to justify their various quests for idealism and freedom, and they are subjected to intense emotional episodes in their activities. They also undergo phases of hallucinations and occasionally exist in surreal states. All these are characteristic of Gothic Romanticism.
Works Cited
Bar-Yosef, Hamutal. Romanticism and decadence in the literature of the Hebrew revival. Comparative Literature 46.2 (1994): 146-157.
Boutin, Aimée. Shakespeare, Women, and French Romanticism. Modern Language Quarterly 65.4 (2004): 505-529.
Klemm, Frederick. The dead-hand motive as a phase of Gerhart Hauptmann’s romanticism. Modern Language Quarterly 2.4 (1941): 619-629.
Lalla, Barbara. Dungeons of the soul: Frustrated romanticism in eighteenth and nineteenth century literature of. MELUS 21.3 (1996): 3-15.
Vincent, Steven. Benjamin Constant, the French Revolution, and the Origins of French Romantic Liberalism. French Historical Studies 23.4 (2000): 607-621.