It's a straight to the point summary about a murderer, who in this case is the narrator of our short story, who goes on to tell that he was not insane in committing these atrocious acts.
Edgar Allans Poe’s “The Tell-Tale heart”, was first published in 1843, is a short story about an
unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader that he is not insane while evidently
describing the careful calculations of the murder he committed. This essay discusses how the
Narrator’s insanity is revealed through the different contradictions he expresses in the story.
Firstly, it shows how the narrator’s speech reveals his denial to insanity. Secondly, it views how his
behavior show that he is not in his normal state of mind. Lastly, this essay shows how his external
monologue supports that his insanity caused him to murder the landlord.
It is evidently shown throughout the story that the narrator is in denial with ‘insanity’ which is
basically the theme for the story. In the opening of the story, he states that “True!—nervous—very,
very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”(Poe, 1843).
In his first statement in the story, he admits that he is not calm and he is fearful. A sane person
would not start off by claiming to be normal and questioning the reader about insanity. The
Narrator introducing insanity in the earliest stages of the story is an obvious hint that he is not
normal, also because he claims to be sane. He further explores his hearing acute by stating that ,
“ I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I
mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story” (Poe, 1843).
The Narrator continues the story by providing inadequate reasons to his claims of sanity. He
reveals that he is desperately in need of the reader’s mercy to agree that he is not insane
meanwhile his speech explores his invalid capabilities that prove that he is not normal. Also, there
is nothing Calmly or healthily about a story that depicts such a haunting event.
The entire short story sufficiently shows that the narrator had no apparent reasons to murder his
landlord, but rather he believed that the landlord had an “evil eye” (Poe, 1843). This statement is
supported by him statement in the second paragraph, “ I loved the old man. He had never
wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes,
it was this!” ( Poe, 1843). The narrator killed the old man who sheltered him because he felt
uncomfortable with the landlord’s eye. A normal person would not commit such a dreadful-life
terminating crime at the expense of comfort. Although, Poe suggests the psychological mystery
that people harm those who they love the most, the narrator did not have any logical reason to
defend this murder. Nobody has the right to end a persons life and normal people are aware of
this.
Another contradiction explores the narrators thoughts in the presence of police officers to show
the effect of guilt and madness. Towards the end of the short story, the narrator shows that he is
very delusional and going through deep hallucinations. “Was it possible they heard not? Almighty
God!—no, no! They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my
horror!–this I thought, ( Poe, 1843). After the narrator has expressed so much certainty in the
murder and concealment of the landlord, he suddenly starts “hearing things in heaven & in hell”
just like he stated in the opening. No rational person would ever believe that they heard a ‘ loudly
pounding heart’ of a dead and buried man. He was acting out of guilt and scholars believe that, it
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