The Tell-Tall-Heart

Rosario Delgado

Professor Covert

ENC 1102. W63

2 February 2010

The Deceiving Heart

In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allan Poe uses the protagonist as the narrator of the story. The carefully detailed story is highly contrasted by the vagueness of the relationship between the unnamed protagonist and the old man, which gives the illusion of a confession instead of a narration. The murderer’s changing emotions that unveil his mental condition are connected to the rationalization of his acts, and can be described in three stages: the week before the crime, the night of the murder, and the police visit.

For the first seven nights, the protagonist shows extreme caution and patience in finding the old man’s eye open and uses this to rationalize his insane behavior. There is a passion in his behavior that is proved by his persistence,” And this I did for seven long nights”(450). His actions show he has developed an obsession and his rationalization is highlighted in the careful and wise precautions he takes in his stalking phase “It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening…Would a madman have been so wise at this?”. The unnamed protagonist’s initial trait for the week of before crime is calmness and carefulness. He seems driven and confident about his insane business.

There is a shift on the narration upon the eight night as the protagonist feelings change from excitement and pity to fury and nervousness. His obsessive behavior comes into light stronger than ever. His psychosis is obvious when as the sound of the beating heart increases, he spots the old man’s eye with the lantern, what he describes as “the damned spot”(451).In this stage, the protagonist uses his oversensitive hearing to rationalize his insane reactions “What you mistake for madness is but over acuteness of the senses?”(451). His excitement dissolves and turns into fury and his stillness fades away as his hallucination becomes “louder and louder”(451) in his head. The climax of...