Abdullah Alzahrani
Mr. Glass
English 100-10
21 July, 2015
A Discrepancy of the Writer and Clearness of Understanding for the Reader The narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart is very complicated mind. In other words, he is conflicted. The writer of the story is Edgar Allan Poe. In this story, Poe writes about a person who works with an old man. The narrator, who is the servant, he decides to kill the old man's eye. However, the old man has "An eye of a vulture – a pale blue eye, with a film over it."(1). According to the servant, "Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold."(1) Then the servant decides to take the life of old man. He reveals his state of mind in this story when he starts saying, "Nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been, and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses – not dulled them."(1). We see how the ingenuity of servant is systematic in trying killing the old man over eight nights. Actually, there are many points in the story that is going to be discussable. The servant is clearly deranged. How does he dare to kill the old man for insignificant reason?. The servant says, "I loved the old man. He never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire." Sometimes, humans are greedy for money, but the servant assure the reader he both loves the old man, and he kills him and does not want his money. Surprisingly, the servant works with the old man many years, but he suddenly notices how the old man's eyes shock him. Moreover, the readers believe that he is not nervous, but he suffers from a psychological disorder. The narrator proves understanding readers right by saying, "I went to work, I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him" (1). The servant knows how big the step is that he is going to take. He insists to the reader, "You should have seen how wisely I proceeded – with what caution – with what foresight."(1). The greatest discrepancy between the narrator's discrepant of himself and his actions occurs in his resulting of how he kills the old man. The servant passes the old man in his room every day, and he opens the door slowly and tries to get his head inside the room very silently. The servant says, "Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I trust it in! I moved it slowly – very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head."(1). In the reader's imagination, this is difficult to do and reveals the narrator's obsession and insanity. In addition, the diction is a concentrated example of the narrator's madness drawn out over eight nights. Upon reflection, when the reader considers this action, he realizes how horrible it is to do that so carefully each night at twelve o'clock.
Upon eighth night, the servant gets inside the old man's room and tries to observe the eye. After he gets his head inside, he is about to open the lantern, but his thumb slips and old man wakes up. The reader is going to confirm that the servant is evil-minded in the next part. After he wakes the old man up, the old man cries, "Who is there?" The servant keeps quite still and says nothing. He tells us "for another hour, I did not move a muscle." It comes in the reader's mind that it is revenge; but it is just for the old man's sharp eye. On the other hand, no sane person does that in these exact steps and mysterious movements. Nevertheless, the old man feels scary but turns on the other side and sleep, madness of servant makes him hear the old man's heartbeats. His malice makes him see the old man's eye in the whole darkness, and then he kills the old man and covers him in a professional way and shorter time without leaving anything behind him. It comes this idea in reader's mind that the servant is exciting about his smartness or proud about his sharp gives him a negative motivation. The servant gets scared that maybe the neighbors hear the voice of old man's
