The Tell-Tale Heart Theme Essay
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe uses an eye and beating heart to reinforce the overall theme of guilt causing a descent into madness. The narrator begins the story by admitting that he is nervous, yet denying insanity. The narrator admits, “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 330). The eye symbolizes the part of the narrator’s identity and conscience that he refuses to accept or confront, which is his madness. The narrator describes the eye as evil, comparing it to a vulture, which actually describes himself. As he kills the old man, dismembers his body, and hides it under the floor, he acts evil. The narrator’s psyche rapidly
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. .] It was a low, dull, quick sound – much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” (334-36). He imagines the ringing to be the old man’s heart still beating, which symbolizes his guilty conscience and growing mental instability. Richard Wilbur confirms, “The story seems to say that, if imagination rebels against everyday temporal consciousness and earthly attachments, the cost may be a self-destructive madness” (Wilbur 163). Eventually, the narrator’s imagination and guilty conscience overtake him and he indefinitely loses his secret and mind. The narrator exclaims, “Tear up the planks! here, here! – it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Poe 336). Although the narrator is confident of his crime in the beginning, his guilty conscience causes his madness, and the truth ultimately comes through. Tucker reinforces the narrator’s guilt and madness, stating, “But in the end, in his madness, he imagines that the three men know, hear, and see all, even the deepest secrets of his heart;” however, “it is his own heart, his tell-tale heart, his conscience, which cannot hide” (Tucker 98). In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the old man’s eye along with the beating heart is effectively used to reinforce the theme of guilt thus
. .] It was a low, dull, quick sound – much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” (334-36). He imagines the ringing to be the old man’s heart still beating, which symbolizes his guilty conscience and growing mental instability. Richard Wilbur confirms, “The story seems to say that, if imagination rebels against everyday temporal consciousness and earthly attachments, the cost may be a self-destructive madness” (Wilbur 163). Eventually, the narrator’s imagination and guilty conscience overtake him and he indefinitely loses his secret and mind. The narrator exclaims, “Tear up the planks! here, here! – it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Poe 336). Although the narrator is confident of his crime in the beginning, his guilty conscience causes his madness, and the truth ultimately comes through. Tucker reinforces the narrator’s guilt and madness, stating, “But in the end, in his madness, he imagines that the three men know, hear, and see all, even the deepest secrets of his heart;” however, “it is his own heart, his tell-tale heart, his conscience, which cannot hide” (Tucker 98). In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the old man’s eye along with the beating heart is effectively used to reinforce the theme of guilt thus