Essay About Gothic Themes in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”

Over time the word “goth” or “gothic” has come to describe many things. In the dark ages, the word “goth” was used as an umbrella term referring to the Visigoth and Ostrogoth people of Northern Europe. Later beginning around the twelfth century, “gothic’ referred to an architectural style. And now in modern times, the word  “gothic” is usually used to describe a subculture revolving around a subgenre of rock. However, there is also a gothic form of literature that began to emerge around the middle of the seventeenth century. One of the most well-known pieces of gothic literature is The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. From a mentally unstable narrator to an evil eye, the story features many gothic elements throughout. For these reasons and more allow Poe’s story The Tell-Tale Heart to be considered a gothic narrative. 

One way that Poe develops The Tell-Tale Heart into a gothic story is by the clever use of emotion in the narrator and how it is portrayed as the heart of the old man. In the story, the narrator kills an old man whose “evil eye” is troubling him. just before he murders the old man he hears his own heartbeat increase even though it is portrayed as the old man’s. The narrator says that “Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant.” (Poe 6) as most people probably know they cannot hear someone else’s heartbeat but their own. Later near the end of the story when the police come to investigate the screaming they heard, the “old man’s” heart starts beating even though he is already dead “It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled.” (Poe 8). This is one way that Poe implements gothic elements into the story.

Another way Poe puts gothic motifs in The Tell-Tale Heart is by the use of police officers that represent the narrator’s guilty conscience. At first, the narrator seems to be fine with the atrocious act he committed but later his conscience catches up with him“I smiled,—for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search—search well.” (Poe 7). However later in the story, the narrator has a mental breakdown because of what he did “Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks!—here, here!—it is the beating of his hideous heart!” The narrator’s actions toward the policemen prove that he has a guilty conscience due to the evil deed he committed. This is another great gothic motif that Poe has put into The Tell-Tale Heart.

Both of the previously mentioned motifs are good, but there is one that stands out among the rest in The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator’s psychosis. Almost as soon as the narrative begins, the narrator asks the reader why they think he is insane “but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them.” (Poe 1) This is exactly what someone would say if they were insane, the narrator also has a disease or condition that possibly affects his mental health, even though he says that it sharpens his senses. Another example of the narrator’s insanity is the way that he acts once he murders the old man that he is taking care of. Once the deed was complete the narrator “then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done.” (Poe 6) Insanity is one of the main gothic motifs present in The Tell-Tale Heart

Gothic motifs are ever-present in Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. All from clever use of symbolism, Poe turned an already dark story even darker with the use of gothic elements. From insinuating the insanity of the narrator at the beginning of the story to portraying the narrator’s emotions and conscience through the clever use of symbolism. Gothic elements are implemented everywhere in the narrative. Being able to identify gothic motifs allows the reader to easily tell whether or not the story is gothic or not, which is a very good skill to have when reading literature. The Tell-Tale Heart has many gothic motifs that allow it to be considered gothic literature.