The Tell-Tale Heart: An Analysis - Book Report/Review Example

 The Tell-Tale Heart: An Analysis The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story of the horror genre. The writing style of Edgar Allan Poe is lead by thrill and mystery. He puts forward his thoughts regarding the process of critical thinking that a human being possesses. In the story ‘The tell tale heart’ he has integrated his views regarding the functioning of human brain and how the thought processes work together. The narrator of the story is depicted as an insane man who cannot control his inner thoughts and manifests his inner struggles as a real man. This paper would revolve around the theme of the story and would analyze the different types of methods adopted by Edgar to portray the short story. Edgar has written the story in the style of a first person narrative. The beginning of the story depicts the theme of the story when the feelings of terror are explained. These feelings can only be explained if one analyzes the past events which took place in the life of the narrator (Quinn 1998 p 394).The story is narrated by a person who seems to be quite suspicious because of his unstable mind. The story depicts the conflicts that lie in the mind of the narrator and these conflicts end up in the killing of the innocent house mate. Although he is seen to be clearly out of his mind he still believes that he is sane and uses logic to explain his vicious act of murdering (Bloom 2002, pp. 70-71). In order to keep his conscience he admits that the blue eyes of the old man he killed were bothering him but he still cannot hide his guilt and starts hearing voices of the old man that he killed. It is because of these voices that he admits to the crime that he committed in front of the officers who are interrogating him. The narrator of the story had weird thoughts because of which he became dangerous and eventually gave himself up to the authorities. The character tried to stay hidden from the view of the world and formed his own circle to defend his thoughts. He believed that his over suspicious thoughts in mind were only helping him to avoid any danger that may arise in his life. The story basically tells about the conflicts that the narrator faces within himself. The author has used different structural forms to describe the conflict that the narrator was facing. He has used unambiguous sentence structures along with vivid narrations which clearly depict the state of mind that the narrator is in. The author uses the skills of sentence forming and expresses them in an excellent manner. The improper expressions by the narrator are used by the author to depict the inner conflicts that he is facing. Edgar Allan Poe uses the mode of setting, tone, sentence structure and dialogues to prove that even insane individuals have feelings that are no different from the normal individuals belonging to this world. This can be clearly seen in the words of the narrator and the conditions he is put in by Edgar. He uses sentence structuring to depict the indirect and direct feelings of the narrator. Edgar tries to put forward that insanity cannot prove an individual innocent even if he commits a crime. Confession by the narrator is yet another important feature of the story. The narrator in the beginning seems to be portrayed as an insane individual but as the story progresses it is seen that the narrator has the capability to hide his crimes after committing them. The author proves it through the story line that insanity can either be portrayed or can seriously exist within a person himself. The author uses the words such as ‘vulture eye’ to depict the personality of the narrator. He also describes the behaviour of the narrator in explicit terms so that the reader can understand the extent of the suffering that is faced by the narrator. The mental state of the narrator is perfectly portrayed by the author in different sentences and words. According to Silverman (1993 p 30) the word ‘True’ in the beginning of the story means that the narrator has accepted the guilt of killing a person despite of his innocence. Poe starts his story with interesting but unorganized words which show the conflict of the narrator from the very beginning. Thus Poe through his use of language captures the concentration of the reader and makes them believe that the narrator is facing from a serious mental defect (Meyers 1992, p.101). Poe further uses his technique of sentence and word forming to create words that can create a difference in the mind of the readers. He uses meaningful words rather than increasing the quantity of the words throughout. Poe has also used the forms of different sounds to portray the situation on different instances. This clearly shows his expertise to portray the situation in the right manner. Sounds of heartbeats and confusion are used by Poe to tell about the conflicts that the narrator is facing (Howarth 1971 p. 94). Poe also emphasizes on the scenes of the story and gives an image to the readers as to how the scenario is taking place. He uses words in a beautiful manner so that they capture the interest of the reader. While describing the scenes in the story Poe uses different techniques so that the reader can feel that they are present at the scene. He describes the terror of the eyes in such an efficient manner that the reader can clearly imagine the scene. Poe has not used descriptive skills while depicting the scenes of the story but still has been successful in portraying the scenes. He has also used symbols to express the feelings of the different characters within the story. Heartbeat has been used as a tool by Poe to tell about the problems of the narrator whereas other sounds have also been used in a similar fashion. He uses different phrases such as the vulture eye to represent the themes of the story. Vulture eye depicts an evil essence which is associated with the narrator. Eye is associated with all the problems within the story and it brought the death of the old man. The lamp has been used to depict the truth about the old man. In other words the lamp depicts the innocence of the old man. Increased heart beat sounds were a sign of the guilt that the narrator had. In conclusion it can be said that the story ‘The Tell Tale Heart’ is a masterpiece written by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe uses different techniques to tell about the characters and scenes of the story. The literature and stories of the Poe era were not as furnished as the story written by Poe. The tools and analytics used by Poe provide a great understanding of the theme and morals of the story. It is these tools that help the reader to engross in the environment laid down by Poe. The literary elements are also an important landmark of the story which clearly makes it a distinguishable piece of literature. Bibliography: Bloom, Harold. Edgar Allan Poe. Broomall, Pa: Chelsea House, 2002. Print. Howarth, William L. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Poe's Tales: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1971. Print. Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992. Print. Poe, Edgar Allan, and J. Gerald. Kennedy. The Portable Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print. Quinn, Arthur H. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Print. Silverman, Kenneth. New Essays on Poe's Major Tales. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Print. Read More