In both "The Tell-Tale Heart", by Edgar Allan Poe, and "The Landlady", by Roald Dahl, the author shows the reader the minds of murderers who are insane. The murderers have two different agendas and work in totally different ways. One is clearly insane, and the other is slyly insane.
             In the opening of "The Tell-Tale Heart", the reader is introduced to the narrator, or caretaker, who tells the reader that he is gong to kill a man he loves; the man has never wronged him. This, alone, tells the reader that he is clearly insane. He admits that he is going to kill him. The caretaker then tells the reader that it is the man's evil eye that is the cause of his murderous plot. Whenever the eye fell upon him, his blood ran cold. He had to rid himself of the eye.
             He then proceeds to tell the reader, in detail, how he planned and executed the murder. He tells how he disposes of the body and assures himself that he cannot be caught. It is, however, the beating of the heart that causes him to confess. The constant beating that only a madman could hear.
             In the story "The Landlady", the reader is introduced to a sweet, little, old lady who offers a young gentleman, Billy, a lovely place to stay. There are no obvious signs that she is going to kill anyone. She is quite charming and very inviting to Billy. He has no reason to fear her.
             The fact that she, the landlady, was so inviting probably should have been a clue to young Billy. The sheets turned down, the offer to fix him dinner, the tea she insisted he have, all were clues to her insanity. Not until the very end did it become clear what she had been doing to her guests.
             Both stories show levels of insanity. One shows someone who hears things and tries to make himself seem as sane as everyone else. The other shows someone who seems as sane as everyone else, but who is just as insane as the other. In the end, bot
             ...