Tell Tale Heart Critical Lens

Words: 251
Pages: 2

The act of deceiving yourself will pave a new path that leads to failure and self-destruction. The facades you create in your head lead to a cycle of harmful delusions. For example, within Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Tell Tale Heart’, Poe highlights how finding comfort within your lies is a temporary solution that once uncovered will reveal the consequences of running from your problems. The protagonist feels an intense desire to kill the Old Man because of his “Evil Eye”. This is the first instance throughout the story indicating that he’s lost his sanity by creating delusions in his head. In the short story, it becomes apparent to the reader that the author is trying to convey the message to not fall victim to our own deceptions and our own thoughts