Verified Document

Unreliable Narration The Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe Essay

Related Topics:

The unnamed narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe almost immediately reveals himself to be unreliable and untrustworthy, in terms of his ability to present events as they actually are. The narrator claims he killed an old man because of the man’s evil eye. But his description of the eye suggests that he believes that the eye almost has disembodied evil, a life of its own beyond that of the old man himself. “He had the eye 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 forever” (Poe). The narrator becomes fixated on minutiae, upon the eye, rather than upon any logical harm that could be perpetuated by the eye.The narrator also continually contradicts himself. He claims to have loved the old man and had no desire for money (in fact, he does not steal from the old man). “He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult” (Poe). The murder seems to be motivated by a peculiar desire by...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

His first words to the reader deny the charge of madness, which suggest that after the murder was discovered, he was found to be insane by a court of law. “…but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them” (Poe). The narrator seems more intent upon proving his sanity than preserving his own life. He claims that his impressions are purely due to his over-active senses; in other words, that he has more insight than the average person, rather than less.
This is belied by his actions, which seem to be clearly irrational, even for someone who wishes to commit a murder. For example, rather than killing the old man outright, the narrator instead visits him for several nights, always withdrawing before he cannot be seen. Again, he seems to harbor the delusion that it is the old man’s eye, not the old man himself that is generating his sense of unease. “And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight --but I found the eye always closed; and…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Edgar Allan Poe the Madman's
Words: 938 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

Poe establishes at this point how in the viewpoint of an insane individual, the line distinguishing insanity from rational thinking becomes blurry. Indeed, the Mad Man's illusion that he is not insane and was fortunate to experience a "sharpening of the senses" was one way of illustrating this blurring of distinction between illusion and reality, sanity and insanity. The Mad Man did not realize that murdering the old man because

Misperceptions and the Tell Tale Heart of Poe
Words: 1052 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Unreliable narration in "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe is an example of a horror story which primarily evolves through the use of psychological drama. The central protagonist commits a murder and is compelled to confess by his hallucination that the dead man's heart is still beating beneath the floorboards where he interred him, even though the narrator is really likely only hearing

The Tell-Tale Heart Literary Analysis
Words: 1407 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Introduction and summary This short story is based on an unidentified narrator who defends his sanity while confessing to a killing of an old man. The motivation for the killing is only the fear he has for the old man’s pale blue eyes. In a detailed narration of his cautions and forethought killing of the old man, the narrator constantly argues he is not mad on account of this measured and

Edgar Allen Poe's 1843 Short Story "The
Words: 1426 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Edgar Allen Poe's 1843 short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is about a young man who becomes mortally obsessed with an old man's creepy eye and ultimately kills him. Thomas Hardy's 1902 poem "The Man He Killed" is about a soldier who has become used to killing people just because they are on the other side of the war. Both of these narratives lend insight into guilt related to death, told

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now