The Tell Tale Heart Insanity

Words: 370
Pages: 2

In The Tell Tale Heart, the protagonist constantly insists that he is totally sane despite clearly insane actions. Throughout the text, the protagonist says, “I’m not crazy; would a crazy person do this?” after ranting about be sane he unsuccessfully coveys that he is not insane to the reader. Also he says, “If you still think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body”. This is another example of the narrator showing the reader he is insane. He would not have killed another person if he wasn’t crazy, therefor describing the precautions he took when disposing the body is an invalid argument. Edgar Allen Poe shows the reader what true insanity looks like through the actions of the narrator in a Tell Tale heart. …show more content…
In his story, Tell Tale Heart, Poe writes, “Would a madman have been so wise as this, and then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously--oh, so cautiously—cautiously” this displays how Poe use repetition to build suspense and make the reader feel uneasy. Another great example is when Poe uses repetition continuessly to convey how truly senseless the narrator has become. He writes, “It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder, every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!” This shows that Edgar Allen Poe knows how to take repetition and use it to make a reader feel terror and suspense as he builds tension. Poe uses repetition to make it illustrate how insane the narrator has