The Tell Tale Heart Interpretive Essay

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Name: Pranav Rawat Period:1/2 Date: 1/30 “ The Tell-Tale Heart” Interpretive Essay A person who has lost all sanity stalks his prey, an old man. “The Tell Tale Heart” is a short-story by Edgar Allan Poe, about a man who has lost the tethers that chain him, unwillingly to reality. Based on the evidence presented in the 8th Amendment of the Death Penalty the main character should be sentenced to a psychiatric hospital because the narrator shows symptoms of a condition called psychosis. Psychosis is a condition which reveals itself when a person constantly hears voices, has a sense of superiority, and thinks that his or her thoughts/delusions are heard universally. The man has almost all of the symptoms of psychosis, which is a mental disorder …show more content…

This is shown by the multiple times the man calls himself a genius, often having a distorted perception of insanity. Repeatedly, the man says that he is not moronic, which is the clearly false converse of the statement:”If you are at the mental age under 10(in other words, idiotic), then you are insane.” What our protagonist has done is he has taken the inverse, or rather reciprocal, the converse of the conditional if put into mathematical terms. “If you are insane, then your mental age is under 10.” It is clear that the man has deemed this converse to be true, thinking that insanity can only be represented by the keen aspects of one’s knowledge, unable to grasp at the truth, making excuses thinking that a lie can become a truth. “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work!”(Poe, 1843). Thus, shows how he has only a fragmented view of the standard person, or rather put it, unable to perceive the limits and extents to distinguish the fine line of sanity and insanity. Although this may be the case, the man clearly stated how he planned and executed his premeditated act, as evidence for a death sentence. Nevertheless, it is clear that he has shown actions of narcissism and hallucinations caused by …show more content…

Frequently, throughout the story the man hears a thumping only described as hideous by him. Gradually, this thumping gets louder, to a time where he subconsciously rids himself of guilt and confesses. “But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! Louder! "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!" Moreover, there is more to these voices for it is clear that the patient is constantly being in paranoia, fearing the policemen and their audacity to ridicule him shamelessly. Funnily, this all happened within the head, because the policemen did not react to his frustration and nervousness. Furthermore, this is a sign of persecutory delusions, where a patient suffering from psychosis or a mental illness, is “persecuted” to an emotional exhaustion of pent up

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