The Tell Tale Heart Analysis
“Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight, with what dissimulation, I went to work!”(Poe 9-10)
The Tell Tale Heart, by Edward Allen Poe, exposes the mentality, ethics and internal struggles of a psychotic man. It is written from the point of view of a man who portrays himself of being mentally unstable. His logic and reasoning is an important role in supporting the notion that he is mentally ill. His logic revolves around instinct, and it lacks moral empathy. He acts on his emotions, and that is what causes him to find slaughtering an old man perfectly acceptable. He has no grudge against the old man; he even admits that he cares for him deeply. Ultimately, it wasn’t the old man that agitated him; it was the old man’s eye. “One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture -- a pale blue eye with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold, and so by degrees, very gradually, I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” (Poe 6-8) It was the old man’s “vulture eye” that provoked his own murder. A vulture is known as a scavenger, and is looked upon as a very grotesque, unpleasant bird. This can be what caused the man’s sickening outlook of the old man’s eye. Nevertheless, it was his insanity which enhanced these feelings to the point where he felt that he had to kill the man. This decision clearly lacks the proper logic of a mentally stable person. Even though he argues that his actions were perceived from good judgment, and not provoked by a mental illness, when he pleads his case it only exposes his true insanity. “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight, with what dissimulation, I went to work!”(Poe 9-10) He sees himself to be too
The Tell Tale Heart, by Edward Allen Poe, exposes the mentality, ethics and internal struggles of a psychotic man. It is written from the point of view of a man who portrays himself of being mentally unstable. His logic and reasoning is an important role in supporting the notion that he is mentally ill. His logic revolves around instinct, and it lacks moral empathy. He acts on his emotions, and that is what causes him to find slaughtering an old man perfectly acceptable. He has no grudge against the old man; he even admits that he cares for him deeply. Ultimately, it wasn’t the old man that agitated him; it was the old man’s eye. “One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture -- a pale blue eye with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold, and so by degrees, very gradually, I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” (Poe 6-8) It was the old man’s “vulture eye” that provoked his own murder. A vulture is known as a scavenger, and is looked upon as a very grotesque, unpleasant bird. This can be what caused the man’s sickening outlook of the old man’s eye. Nevertheless, it was his insanity which enhanced these feelings to the point where he felt that he had to kill the man. This decision clearly lacks the proper logic of a mentally stable person. Even though he argues that his actions were perceived from good judgment, and not provoked by a mental illness, when he pleads his case it only exposes his true insanity. “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight, with what dissimulation, I went to work!”(Poe 9-10) He sees himself to be too