Edgar Allan Poe's Tale-Tell Heart

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The Tale-Tell Heart Poe’s Tale-Tell Heart is written from the point of view of a man who claims to be sane but commits a heinous premeditated murder of a man he says he loves (74). Poe shows signs of mental instability in the narrator through symbolism of the gothic setting, careful tone choices within the text, and through direct thoughts and dialogue from the point of view of the narrator himself. In the opening paragraph, the narrator is trying to convince the reader of his sanity. He asks, “… will you say that I am mad?” (74). He then goes on to give an explanation for his actions. He admits that, “the disease had sharpened [his] senses,” (74) by which he means that his senses are heighted and that, “above all was the sense of hearing,” (74) which is relevant throughout the story of his confession. Note the word “disease” in which he uses to explain his state of mind showing that he is somewhat aware that something was wrong with him. However, the overall tone regarding his sanity is denial, as he asks again, “How, then, am I mad?” (74), and attempts to convince the reader that what he did was planned and for a reason. As this may be true, it is the nature of his planning as well as his motive which in …show more content…
He describes how he deals with the body, “I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs,” (76) the tone of this statement is bone-chilling. Poe uses “and” to connect the different actions to create a choppy sentence as it would sound much different to say “I chopped of the head, arms, and legs”. Instead, the drawn out sentence mimics the drawn own process of the brutal dismemberment. The narrator hides the man’s body beneath the floor boards of the man’s bedroom, bragging that he pulled it off “so cunningly” (77). The paragraph ends with the narrator laughing, showing that he feels no remorse or guilt for what he had just

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