. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Harken! And observe how healthily –how calmly I can tell you the whole story (Poe 74).
The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is very unstable and is going through much emotional turmoil. He debates whether or not he is mad; however, he states that he has a disease. This alone gives the reader a sense that the narrator is emotionally unsound and does have a mental disorder. He is perceived as insane, yet denies the fact that it is true. The narrator defends his position by stating that he can hear things in heaven, on the earth, and in hell; however, there is an emphasis on hell. Poe emphasizes hell in order to establish the fact that there is evil within the narrator and that he does suffer from insanity.
In Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator is essentially losing his mind. He is consumed by some inconceivable need to rid himself of his insanity, and also of a man who apparently has done him no harm:
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion the
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