Guilt In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

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Authors are able to use different aspects of their writing to bring everything together to form a theme. In "The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allan Poe uses three literary elements to demonstrate the narrator's inner conscience and fear that drives him insane. He uses intricate plot, perplexing characters, and illustrative language in the story. The theme of guilt is incorporated throughout the entire story by using different literary elements of plot, character, symbolism, and language to prove that the guilt of the narrators deeds was the cause to his madness. Poe's plot is shown by using the events in the tale to slowly unravel the narrators true guilt that is buried in his heart, and the knowledge of his murder haunts him until he cracks and …show more content…
There are four characters in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the old man who was killed, the narrator who killed him, the neighbor who called the police because of the screams, and the police who came to investigate the screams. Of the four the narrator and the old man's characteristics define the theme of the story the most. The narrator tried to cover up his insanity and show that he was sane. The old man with the vulture-like eye was unaware of what the narrator was plotting. Everything the narrator tells the reader about the old man fit the narrator’s definition as he claims “Madmen know nothing”. After the killing, the narrator acted completely sane and calm. He then dismembered the body and hid it under the floorboards before the meeting with the police. Right before the narrator's guilt floods his mind; he thinks of himself as a genius for completing the murder stealthily. However, as the conversation progressed with the police he becomes more and more nervous because of the sound of the old man’s heartbeat, which could have been his imagination or his own heartbeat he was hearing. In the end though he confessed to the police of heinous …show more content…
The language Poe used can be seen in the narrator’s psychological state. With the story being told through the unreliable point of view of the narrator, there was a cold detachment while the murder was committed. The narrator’s fear is illustrated with the descriptive language of the aftermath. The old man’s vulture-like eye can be seen as a symbol of the narrator’s fear, the trigger of his insanity, and the reason for why he should kill the old man. Poe’s use of words and sentences shows the narrator’s twisted logic and reveals his insanity, even though he kept claims otherwise throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, the narrator wanted to show his sanity by “how calmly I can tell you the whole story”, but in the end he showed his true psychopathic
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