Guilt In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

Words: 726
Pages: 3
Open Document
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
Show More

Related Documents: Guilt In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

Guilt In The Tell-Tale Heart And The Last Rung On The Ladder

in their writing pieces. One of the many common themes is guilt. To better illustrate a theme, writers integrate different elements of writing. For example, in “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Last Rung on the Ladder” by Stephen King, the universal theme of guilt is portrayed through the behavior of the characters. The characters are guilty of their own actions, therefore, fear builds up within them. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” an anonymous narrator hides the fact that he murders an…

Words 753 - Pages 4

Poe Reading Response Essay

3/5/2015 Reading Response for “Poe and the Horror Story” Edgar Allan Poe, the most well-known and popular American writer to live, is famous for writing horror stories that install fear and excitement into the minds of the readers. Many of his stories consist of “narrators who have committed some horrible crime, such as horror, or who reveal some terrible secret about taboo subjects, such as incest or necrophilia” (133). Through this horrific acts and unexpected plot twists, Poe aims to surprise and excite…

Words 482 - Pages 2

The Black Cat Symbolism

Edgar Allan Poe lost so many people he loved to the disease Tuberculosis. He grew up with only a mother because his father abandoned their family. He also had two other siblings. Mrs. Poe died from Tuberculosis. Edgar Poe and his siblings were split up into different homes. He was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Allen. Mrs. Allen also ended up dying from T.B. and his wife died from T.B. as well. The losses Poe suffered influenced the literary elements he used. Poe’s literature often requires the reader…

Words 515 - Pages 3

Stephen King Vs Edgar Allan Poe

Mr.Seacat P.4 Stephen King V.S Edgar Allan Poe Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe are both amazing authors who have their own unique voice. Both authors have their individual style when writing scary stories. These two authors have gone through different experiences that brought them to become who they are now. Today both, Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe, are well known. These two authors use setting, theme, and characterization to develop their own distinct tales of horror, however, Stephen King…

Words 970 - Pages 4

TRS Poe Essay

2014 Edgar Allan Poe: Exploring Common Themes of a Troubled Writer Edgar Allan Poe was an American author and poet born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809. Poe lived a tumultuous life, wrought with death and financial challenges. He lost both parents by the time he was three years old. Poe was then separated from his siblings to live with a foster family. Over the course of his life, tuberculosis caused the deaths of his mother, brother, foster mother, and wife (“Poe’s Life: Who is Edgar Allan Poe?”)…

Words 2045 - Pages 9

Essay Edgar Allan Poe and Insanity

Edgar Allan Poe and Insanity Edgar Allan Poe shows how subconscious fears and guilt can lead to insanity through the irrational behaviors shown by the narrators in “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat”. Both narrators have committed a crime due to their insanity in an attempt to relieve themselves from their fear and guilt, but instead ultimately cause their further decline of mental stability. Edgar Allan Poe was orphaned at an early age, later being adopted by John Allan. In his early…

Words 3412 - Pages 14

The Tell-Tale Heart Symbolism

In true Edgar Allen Poe fashion, the story of the “Tell- Tale Heart” is told in a dark and twisted manner. Also, the story is full of death and misery, yet it is still beautifully written. This is due to the use of a literary devices such as imagery. As a result, the story can enact a chilling affect upon the reader. However, imagery is not the only literary device that Poe uses in the “Tell- Tale Heart.” Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism throughout his story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” to convey a deeper…

Words 778 - Pages 4

Comparing The Landlady And A Tell-Tale Heart

Even though both "The Landlady" by Roald Dahl and " A Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe both wrote different stories they both used suspense in there story's to make the story's better. Suspense is the feeling or rush of adrenaline of not knowing what is coming next. Suspense makes stories so much better cause they keep the reader not knowing what is going to happen in the end so it keeps them interested. Also keeps the reader nervous because the reader doesn’t know if what happens next is going…

Words 869 - Pages 4

The Tell-Tale Heart Rhetorical Analysis

Have you ever thought about life in the perspective of someone who sees the world differently than you do? In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” an undeniable psycho is tortured by the mere sight of an old man’s eye, leading him to murder, lies, and confession. The only prominent solution to this problem is killing the old man, but things don’t turn out as planned when the police appear. Irony demonstrated in the short story gives a suspenseful, yet slightly humorous effect to the step-by-step…

Words 404 - Pages 2

The Tell Tale Heart Essays

Beating Heart With a descriptive epistle of murder and insanity, “The Tell Tale Heart” threw itself into history as a classic. The narrator tells of his plot to murder an old man with a “vulture eye.” Although he sneaks into his bedroom, night after night, he still cannot murder the old man, because he loves the man, but hates the eye. When seeing the vulture eye on the eighth night, he murders the old man and dismembers his body. While insisting upon his sanity he hears the old man’s heart beating…

Words 1030 - Pages 5