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1
Edgar Allan Poe, whose fevered imagination brought him to great
heights of creativity and depths of paranoic despair, is a towering figure in the
history of American literature. ...
Poe was born in Boston in January 1809 and married Virgina Clemms in
1836. After her death in 1847, Poe became increasingly unstable which led
him to suicidal attempts after being found in a delerious state of mind. ... Carlson, "The Tell-Tale Heart" is one of Poes favourite
stories. In writing the tale, Poe dramatizes the "spirit of perverseness" in
which he combines elements of a gothic tale (evil eye), a pshchorealistic
approach (narrators paranoia) and a moral (compulsion to confess). "The
Tell-Tale Heart" is a story about the concept referred to as "the demonic self"
--a person who feels the compulsion to commit a gratitous act of evil (Abbott).
In "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe uses strong forshadowing, irony and symbolism
to complete the perfect dramatic monologue of the murder of an old man
along with the confessions to the evil act.
In "The Tell-Tale Heart", the narrator appears that he is driven more by
a frenzy of fears than by an act of a guilty conscience. ... The impressionistic style used by Poe consists of a rushed
and staggered syntax, repetitions and qualifications and its insistent address
to the reader may suggest a hysteria that is barely in control. The narrator
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may be schizophrenic in which he mistakes the ticking sound of the "death
watch" beetles for the old mans beating heart (Carlson 249). ... "The Tell-Tale Heart" has its own "death watch"
portrayed by the narrator as he sticks his head in the room to watch the old
man. ... In the first paragraph it states, "The disease
had sharpened my senses--not destroyed, not dulled them" ( Poe 721). ...
In writing "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe wrote a short story that is laden
with symbolism and questions. ... In his story, Poe
illustrates how a mans imagination is capable of being so vivid that is
profoundly affects peoples lives. ... One major symbol in "The Tell-Tale Heart", is
that of the old mans eye. ... Poe expanded on the
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old mans superstition of the evil eye and drew upon from a pamphlet,
"Arguement on the trial of John Francis Knapp" (Peitham, 134). ...
Through the use of forshadowing, the narrator begins his tale of
betrayal by trying to convience the reader that he is not insane, but the reader
quickly sumerizes that the narrator is indeed out of control. ... I
heard many things in hell" (Poe 721). ... (Poe 722)
This clearly states his intentions, but it forshadows the eye as being the
incentive. The narrator is not ready to tell the tale in which the reader then
realizes that this lucidity is a product of his insanity (Peitham, 135).
Approximate Word count = 2285
Approximate Pages = 9.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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