The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe - Research Paper Example

?The Tell-Tale Heart The short story The Tell-Tale Heart was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1843. It belongs to the genre of gothic fiction. The storyis narrated by an unnamed narrator who claims that he is not insane although he has murdered an old man with a “vulture eye”. The story does not clearly mention about the identity of the narrator nor does it clarify the relationship between the murderer and the victim. The story culminates with confession when the narrator’s believes on hearing the continuous sound of heartbeat of the old man under the floorboards where the body has been hidden. Title analysis The title indicates the sounds of heartbeats of the old man or the narrator. It seems that the old man’s heart is trying to tell something. The first mention of heartbeat was on the eighth night when the narrator heard the sound of the old man’s heartbeat as he was peeking through the door. He compares the sound with that of a “watch enveloped in cotton”. (Poe) It seemed to him that the sound was rapidly becoming louder and it filled him with anxiety as he thought “it would be heard by a neighbour” (Poe). That was the moment he was galvanized into action and killed the old man by smothering him with his own bed. The next time the narrator could hear the sound of heartbeats was after the murder was done and when he was talking to the police. The police was summoned by a neighbor who heard a shriek and suspected foul play. It was for this reason that the narrator mentioned that he had cut the body into pieces before burying it under the floorboards. This got rid of any doubt in the mind of the reader that the old man might have been alive. Since that is not possible and it is obvious that a dead man’s heart cannot beat, so it can be assumed that the narrator was hearing the sound of his own heartbeat. It was the manifestation of his feelings of guilt. As his nervousness grew, the sound became louder and louder although the police did not seem to hear it. In order to suppress the sound he “grates the chair upon the floorboards” as if he was squashing the heart of the old man. This action led the narrator to believe that the sound cannot be suppressed. He was now convinced that the police can hear the sound but they are pretending that they cannot hear it (Wing-chi Ki, 34). Finally, the narrator surrenders and confesses to the crime. The story is named The Tell-Tale Heart because it was the sound of the narrator’s heartbeats that compelled the narrator to tell the tale of the old man’s fate. Symbolical analysis of the story The story tells about paranoia and mental instability of a person who insists of being a complete sane person even after murdering an old man whom he claimed that he loved. The story focuses only on the narrator’s obsession about the old man’s vulture eyes, the sound of heartbeats and details of execution. The narrator’s claim that he is not insane is being contradicted by his own manner. He admits of being “very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am” (Poe) yet he asks why should he be called mad. He emphasises on his high sensory powers as defense against madness. The story also contradicts the feelings of love and hate. By claiming that he loved the old man and had no desire to acquire his wealth, the narrator dismissed the usual reasons for which a murder is committed. He puts the entire blame on the vulture eye which made his blood run cold. The narrator could not apprehend that the “eye” is the “I” of the old man, which means it is the identity of the old man. The narrator failed to understand the “eye” could not be isolated without killing the old man. Initially he ignored the sound of the heartbeats which acted as an alarm for him to realize the wrong he is about to do. He believed that by destroying the evil eye of the old man he would be demonstrating “his own health of mind and heart”. During the seven days before the murder, the narrator soothed his victim so as that the old man did not become suspicious by inquiring about his health every day (Krappe, 86). Afterwards, he applauded the meticulous manner in which he committed the murder and then with a “light heart” welcomed the three policemen inside his house. His ability of being in control was displayed by the manner he conversed with the policemen, although the manner began to change to anxiety and restlessness when he began to hear the sound of the heartbeats (Pitcher, 232). Finally, he admits his crime to the policemen because he felt that “anything was more tolerable than this derision” (Poe). The dramatic exposure of the crime and the criminal is the highlight of this story at the end. The “air of bravado” that the narrator was displaying so far was shattered when he started hearing the sound of the heartbeats which were nothing but his guilty conscious since the heart of a dead man cannot beat. Like real life murder crimes, the story has the sequence of events like “premeditation, murder and disposal of the body” (Krappe, 86-88). Symbolisms Eyes The narrator claims that he loved the old man and had no desire to acquire his wealth. The only reason that he gave for his deed was the eye of the old man which was like a vulture’s eye – “pale blue, with a film over it” (Poe). This indicated that the eye was evil and it seemed to the narrator that it was always observing him and putting curse on him. The “film” indicates that the old man was unaware of the evil developing right under his nose. The narrator mentioned that after burying the old man he “replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye --not even his --could have detected any thing wrong”. (Poe) This statement indicates that the eye may have had the ability to see hidden things. It was the eye that tortured him and made his blood cold. It is also possible that “eye” is the “I” which may mean that the narrator and the old man were the same person. However, if the “eye” is taken as symbol of reason, then the central idea of the story becomes the “murder of reason” (Pitcher, 232). Lantern The narrator of the story seemed to get a pleasurable sensation from every pain. He could feel the pain of the old man who was to become his victim. The narrator admits that “I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him” (Poe) but still he committed the crime of murdering him. He went through the experience of merging himself with his victim. It was explained by the lantern which was a symbol of the man’s eye. The narrator used the lantern in a way that a single beam of light fell on the vulture eye of the old man. This caused the old man to feel fear and thus the “executioner and the victim exchanged experiences” (Pritchard, 45-46). The policemen When the police arrive the narrator welcomes them inside the house and calmly converses with them. He even had the audacity of taking them in the bedroom of the old man where the murder had been committed. Only when the policemen felt at ease and started talking cheerily that he began to hear the sound of heartbeats. His guilty conscious began to strike him as he was sitting over the place where he had buried the “dismembered body of the victim”. Finally, it was the ‘narrator’s compulsion to unmask and destroy himself by admitting the crime”. In this context it can be considered that the three policemen were super-ego of the narrator. The entire story that was narrated was a “psychodrama of compulsions and counter compulsions” (Witherington, 474). At the end of the story when the narrator confesses his crime to the policemen he calls them villains. It indicated his failure to distinguish the difference between the identity of the police who are representatives of the law and his own illegal crime. Conclusion The story The Tell-Tale Heart was one of the most famous short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. The narrator was characterized by his ego which is the reason why he described his crime in such meticulous manner. His statement “how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work” (Poe) only highlighted his false ego (Pritchard, 146). The story is written in a tightly controlled language and the narration was done in a lucid manner so that the readers can easily identify with the events. The lack of information about the narrator, the old man and their relationship is contradicted by the meticulous narration of an almost perfect crime. References Krappe, Edith Smith. “A Possible Source for Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat”, American Literature, 12.1 (1940) 88, May 22, 2012 from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=535ff33e-2e79-49a3-ae20-5528fc4df341%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=7 Pitcher, Edward W. “The Physiognomical Meaning of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart”, Studies in Short Fiction, 16.3 (1979) 232, May 21, 2012 from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c5a374b8-7641-421c-99e4-0e2d6261fda3%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=10 Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Tell-Tale Heart”. 1843 from: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/telltale.html Pritchard, Hollie. “Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart”, Explicator, 61.3 (2003) 145-146, May 21, 2012 from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=ec76210c-9df3-4032-8701-e7f15b7f152e%40sessionmgr15&vid=4&hid=14 Wing-chi Ki, Magdalen, “Ego-evil and The Tell-Tale Heart”, Renascence, 61.1 (2008) 34, May 21, 2012 from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=43d0f54b-7bd1-47fb-bc82-79deb662afa5%40sessionmgr15&vid=1&hid=10 Witherington, Paul. “The Accomplice in The Tell-Tale Heart”, Studies in Short Fiction, 22.4 (1985) 474, May 22, 2012 from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=bd63288f-2439-4306-9f73-11d77c283edb%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=104 Read More