Edgar Allan Poes use of Point of View in The Tell Tale Heart
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An author's use of point of view in a story can help make the story great or it can make it seem boring. The author's choice of a narrator helps set the tone and mood of a story. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe uses point of view as a major plot device. Poe's narrator is an unreliable, insane person, which Poe uses to make "The Tell-Tale Heart" particularly disturbing and frightening.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is told from the point of view of the main character. This character, a self-confessed murderer, tells his version of the events that led to the murder and subsequent confession. This insane character tries throughout the story to make the reader understand that he is sane, even though his actions suggest otherwise. From the first line of the story; "True!nervousvery, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?" (Poe, 36), the main character pleads his sanity, yet the murderer goes on to explain in great detail why the old man "had" to be killed...