How Is Edgar Allan Poe Unreliable

Edgar Allan Poe was a poet, short-story writer, editor, and critic from the 1800s. He lived most of his life in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, Virginia. However, he died in Baltimore in October of 1849. Poe’s writing often contained and explored themes of terror, sadness, death, and regret. Some of his most notable works include “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and many more. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a fiction short story written in 1843. This short story is about an unnamed narrator who murders an old man and tries to convince himself and others that he is sane. Because of this narrator and his behavior, the reader can conclude that the “Tell-Tale Heart” is being told through a first-person, unreliable narrator.
The reader can easily come to this conclusion because of him repeatedly stating that he is sane, his unusual behavior, and his speech. An example of the narrator being unreliable is when the story states, “As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knock at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart,—for what had I now to fear?” This quote shows the narrator being unreliable because he knows that he killed the old man, dismembered his body, and hid him underneath the floorboards in his house. The reader also knows this and knows that the narrator has a lot to fear. Even if the person at the door wasn’t a police officer, the narrator would still have to come up with an excuse as to why the old man was not at his home. The reader knows that in reality, he could get into a lot of trouble for what he has done, but the narrator does not believe that that is the case. Another example of when the reader can tell that the narrator is unreliable is when the story states, "Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—no, no, no! They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!—this I thought, and this I
The narrator suspects that the officers are onto him because of the supposed beating of the heart, however, in reality, the officers are growing suspicious from seeing the narrator become more and more fidgety and manic. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of telling the story through an unreliable narrator adds tension and intrigue to the reader throughout the work by creating a sense of unease and suspense for the reader. While this sense of uncertainty helps to keep the reader engaged and interested, it also creates tension between the characters and tension between the narrator and the reader. Poe also creates this tension through the conflicting events and perspectives between what the reader infers from the story versus what the narrator is telling the reader. The narrator tells the story as if he knows what he is doing and he has a well-thought-out plan for how he will kill the old man and how he will dispose of the body. However, the reader can infer that the narrator is just growing more manic and insane. This creates some of the unease and tension surrounding the truth of the story and the