Physcological Analysis of The Tell-Tale Heart
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
adds to the overall effect of horror by continually stressing to the reader that he or she is not mad" (Womack, 14. Martha Womack states that:"Most critics would argue this point by saying that Poe would 'assume' that the reader would 'know' that the protagonist was male, therefore, he would see no need to identify his sexless narrator. The statements by this particular critic seem to contradict. Pritchard was one of few critics to suggest this. However, as Hollie Pritchard states that " The actions of the narrator, combined with his insistence that he is not mad, lead readers to determine that he must suffer from some psychological disorder" (Pritchard, 1. Along with the suggestion that the narrator is female, there is the question of the narrator and the old man ultimately being the same person. One of his psychological disorders may have included a sadomasochistic way of thinking. The 'eye' is what evokes the narrator's dark side and leads to the murder of the old man. At first he believes he is able to get by with the murder he has committed until it is his acute sense of hearing that racks at his brain and tortures him into confessing.
Common topics in this essay:
Tell-Tale Heart,
Martha Womack,
Hollie Pritchard,
John Chua,
Heart Poe,
tell-tale heart,
own inner conflicts,
sexual element pritchard,
own inner,
blood ran cold,
story circles,
element pritchard,
ran cold,
narrator male,
story narrator,
blood ran,
sexual element,
inner conflicts,
|
Acceptance Essays
