Psychological Aspects of the "Tell-Tale Heart"
             The "Tell-Tale Heart" is a famous short story written by Edgar Allen Poe. The "Tell-Tale Heart" serves as a prime example of Poe's works displaying the elements of death and misery that are prevalent in a majority of his writings. The story's essential characters are the narrator and the old man, both who go unnamed. The story circles around the narrators desire to kill the old man for reasons that seem unexplainable and insane. Poe's story is a psychological tale of inner struggles and madness.
             Poe predominately wrote of the protagonist's battles to work out his own inner conflicts. John Chua claims: "The idea of the protagonist fighting a counterpart occurs so often in Poe's work that critics often suggest that the battles represent Poe's attempts to work out, through his own inner conflicts and psychological struggles." (Chua, 1.)
             Poe's troubles started with his own deranged childhood. Poe was born to two traveling actors. They both died before Poe reached the age of two, leaving him an orphan. He was then adopted by a man whom he did not get along with. Later in life he became a writer and would get jobs with a newspaper. However, Poe was a drunk and could not keep any of his jobs long. He was also married during this time, but when his wife died
             he was left devastated and became depressed and suicidal. Several of his stories present these hardships and struggles as the inner assaults of the protagonists. The "Tell-Tale Heart" presents this by way of showing the controversy the narrator has with himself within his own head. These arguments of the narrator continue throughout the story.
             As the paper goes on, the narrator argues with himself that he is not mad. He starts out by saying "True! – nervous- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will ...