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Essay on The Tell Tale Heart by Allan Poe

Updated August 16, 2022
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Essay on The Tell Tale Heart by Allan Poe essay

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Perceived as a state of mental illness, insanity defines the physiological fight between sanity and madness. Similarly, on the brink of insanity, the protagonist in Edgar Allan Poe’s a “Tell-Tale Heart” struggles to accept his plight of madness and eventually enters a state of no return. Therefore, in a “Tell-Tale Heart”, a man declares himself guilty of murdering another, who had been nothing but kind to him. According to the man, the atrocity occurred due to the victim’s possession of an “Evil Eye.”

After murdering the victim, an elderly man, in cold blood, he chopped up his limbs in a tub and buried them beneath the flood boards of the victim’s bed chamber. Self-confident with his procedure to hide the body, the man was sure he would evade arrest. When the police arrived due to a noise complaint from a neighbor the morning after, he assured them that the noise simply occurred due to the result of a terrible nightmare he had the previous night. When the police asked for the old man’s whereabouts, he responded by saying that the old man was merely vacationing in the country.

Shortly after the police’s arrival, the man begins to hear a shrill sound, which continues to gradually increase. Plagued by fear and guilt, the man wretchedly confesses his sins, in an attempt to cleanse himself of his despair and anguish. In the “Tell-Tale Heart”, the recurring themes of time and death represent the central image of a heart’s connection to a watch; however, the notion of the protagonist’s  self-deprivation is displayed through the double meaning of “eye” and “I”, which additionally introduce the inexorable concept of the narrator’s physiological insanity.

To start, the use of personification, loaded language, symbols, and metaphors help emphasize the recurring themes of time and death, which further demonstrate the connection between a heart and a watch. Lurking in the shadows of the old man’s room, the man states “Death… stalked with his black shadow… and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him… to feel the presence of my head” (Poe 2). As “Death” approached the old man, it became clear that his time to depart earth had come. The author personifies “Death” in an attempt to illustrate that death is constantly lurking in every corner waiting to capture its next victim. The personification of “Death”, provides evidence towards the idea that death’s shadow allowed the old man to sense his time was near and additionally helps him prepare for his demise.

Further, the use of loaded language sheds light on the idea that death’s shadow is what ultimately causes the old man to feel. The feelings given to the old man by the shadow of death allowed the victim to sense the presence of his killer before he was taken from the land of the living. After robbing the old man of his life, the killer begins to find himself developing the disease of hearing acute; however, in an attempt to deny his state of madness, the man tries to create the illusion of sanity by saying, “And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses?… there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound” (Poe 3). Shortly after the old man’s death, the slayer hears a “quick sound” come to his ears. Poe uses the “quick sound” to symbolize the heartbeat of the elderly man that was killed. The author’s use of symbolism indicates a connection between the man’s new found “disease” and the crime he committed. To continue, the author’s use of a metaphor compares a heartbeat to the sound a watch makes as the minute hand slowly inches forward, like a caterpillar climbing up a tree.

The comparison between the noise a watch makes and the dead man’s heartbeat indicates a connection between time and death. Additionally, the critic Charles E. May, elaborates on the recurring themes of time and death. May states that “the tale… every heart tells is the tale of time—time inevitably passing, with every beat of the heart bringing one closer to death” (1). The connection between the recurring themes of time and death, emphasize that death is an inevitable part of life, and he who tries to outwit death, solely outwits himself. May emphasizes that as time passes, one is only brought closer to death; therefore, demonstrating the connection between the noise of a watch’s minute hand and a heartbeat. Therefore, the recurring themes of time and death help introduce the concept of double meaning between “I” and “eye”.

Additionally, the use of loaded language, symbolism, exclamatory syntax, and dialogue help generate the idea that the object of the protagonist’s desire is masked by the murder of the old man, which further demonstrates the double-meaning of “I” and “eye”. The old man’s possession of a “vulture-like” eye is what the killer claims triggered him to end the old man’s life, saying “Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees… I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (Poe 1). In an attempt to free himself from the the evil eye’s captivity, the man decides to take the old man’s life, in order to “rid” himself of the eye forever. Poe uses loaded language to describe how the stone cold glance of the demonic eye heavily influences the man’s decision to free himself from the cage of misery that the eye brought upon him. The gelid feeling the man receives from the eye’s stone cold glance, acts as the catalyst that solidifies the man’s decision to “rid” himself of the eye for good.

In addition, Poe symbolizes the killer and the old man’s eye in an attempt to demonstrate the double meaning between “eye” and “I”. The double meaning between “eye” and “I” help illustrate the idea that the old man’s murder is a facade for the man’s true object of destruction, himself. Furthermore, overrun by the guilt of his conscience, the man declares that the old man is not on vacation in the country but dead, for he is the one who killed him.  In an act of outrage, the man screams “‘ Villains!’… ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks! here, here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!’” (Poe 4). Haunted by the consequences of his actions, the man admits to the “deed” of killing the old man in cold blood. Poe’s use of exclamatory syntax, provides evidence towards the interpretation of the paranoia that the man receives as a result of killing the victim. Furthermore, Poe uses dialogue to support the idea that the old man’s death marked the beginning of the killer’s downward spiral into insanity. The man’s admission to killing the old man erases his previous attempts to prove his sanity, for in an attempt to rid himself of the sound, he confesses his crime and destroys himself unknowingly in the process.

In addition, the critic John Chua discusses May’s concept of the double meaning between “I” and “eye”, saying “May… interprets the “eye”… as a homonym of “I.” Thus, what the narrator… wants to destroy is the self, and he succumbs to this… when he could not longer contain his… guilt” (1). The double meaning of “eye” and “I”, provides insight towards the idea that by denying himself, he is also destroying himself. Chua’s insight on May’s concept emphasizes how the narrator’s ultimate doom was created solely by himself due to his overwhelming guilt for killing the old man.  Additionally the use of “eye” and “I” helps generate the idea that the narrator is indeed insane and his attempt to deny his insanity is really him denying himself.

Furthermore, the use of allusion, symbolism, loaded language, and connotation help introduce the narrator’s physiological insanity. The burden the killer received as a result of killing the old man, affected his state of mind, for according to the killer, “The disease…sharpened my senses… Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell” (Poe 1). The “disease” that the man receives from killing the elderly victim, results in the man’s confession for his crimes. Using allusion, the author references a Shakespearean quote from Hamlet, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatio, then are dreamt in your Philosophy”. Poe’s allusion to Shakespeare, refers to the man’s claim to hear what lies beyond, while also contradicting it with Horatio’s Philosophy. Poe symbolizes the man’s “disease”, in order to establish a relationship between the victim and the killer.

In addition, sure of evading arrest, the man invites the policemen into his home to search the premises; however, he ultimately finds himself in a predicament, when he begins to hear the heartbeat of the man he killed. After inviting them in, the man says, “They sat, and… I answered cheerily… But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears” (Poe 4). The “ringing” that the man hears, occurs due to the guilt he has from killing the victim. Poe uses the connotation of “ringing”, in order to demonstrate its resemblance to a heartbeat. The author also uses loaded language, in an attempt to emphasize that the “ringing” the man hears, appears as a burden he has to pay for his actions.

In addition, the critic Daniel Hoffman states that the internal conflict of Man vs Himself is prominent in many of Poe’s works; however, it is commonly hidden by something, such as insanity. Hoffman states that “the terrible war of superego… the… battle between conscience and impulse, the unsleeping enmity of the self…these struggles are enacted… in Poe’s work, but always in disguise” (1). Hoffman’s theory, that the fight between conscience and impulse are connected, generate the idea that the man knew the severity of his actions; however, chooses wrong due to his selfish desire of being free from the evil eye’s prison. The narrator’s insanity provides an explanation for the old man’s murder, while masking his self-deprivation, which further provides evidence towards the concept that by killing the old man he is also killing himself.

In a “Tell-Tell Heart”, the recurring themes of time and death help emphasize the central image of how a heartbeat and watch are related. The relationship between a ticking minute hand and a heartbeat, introduces the concept of how every heart tells the tale of time and inevitably brings every person one step closer to death. In addition, the double meaning of “eye” and “I” generate the idea that the slaughtering of the old man was the narrator’s way of slaughtering himself. Further, the relationship between “eye” and “I”, contradict the man’s attempt to prove himself sane, while also insinuating that the old man’s slaughter is symbolic. In addition, the narrator’s plight masks the idea that old man’s murder is a representation of self-denial. The importance of the text is represented by the evidence of the argument which support the idea that the themes of time and death, as well as the double meaning of “eye” and “I”, are connected and represent a larger central idea of the narrator’s physiological insanity. Therefore, by killing the old man, the narrator also kills himself, for it was the result of his own actions that led to his demise.

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Essay on The Tell Tale Heart by Allan Poe. (2022, Aug 16). Retrieved from https://sunnypapers.com/essay-on-the-tell-tale-heart-by-allan-poe/