The Truth Behind “The Tell-Tale Heart” (Essay Sample)

In “The Tell-Tale heart” By Edgar Allan Poe the narrator is insane because he has shown that he has mental problems in multiple situations. Therefore, he is not guilty. One of the first examples is when the narrator was in front of the old man's door, the old man heard him and then screamed out “Who’s there.” After that, the narrator stayed there motionless while the old man's fear grew. He waited and waited with no remorse for the old man. The narrator mentioned how he understood his fear, but it brought him joy. For example, he says, "I knew what the old man felt and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart” (Pg. 58). This shows the narrator enjoyed the old man's fear, which is a big sign pointing towards a mental illness. The narrator also said that the disease sharpened his senses, with this he also mentioned his sense of hearing being more acute. He was now hearing strange things and the narrator had a thought that entered his head that haunted him: “He had never wronged me, he has never given me an insult, for his gold I had no desire, I think it was his eye” (Pg. 56). The narrator admitted to having a disease and having strange thoughts that haunted him. These thoughts made him think in a weird way. This thought process seemed to have given the feeling that there is something wrong with the narrator. Like a mental illness because this thought made him want to kill the old man only because of his eye.

The old man only treated the narrator with respect and compassion. The narrator even mentioned that the old man has never wronged him or insulted him, which really should take away from any motive to kill. Although that was not the case for the narrator, he had won over the police. After sitting down to talk, he felt himself getting pale and was starting to wish they would leave. The narrators head started to ache, and he started to hear a ringing in his ear. Then he said, “But the noise arose over all and continually increased and grew louder-louder-louder!” (Pg.60). As the noise got louder the narrator could not handle it. It was the driving factor that made him admit to the police that he did in fact kill the old man. He showed them where the body was hidden in hopes that it would help his horrible pain. To conclude, the narrator has shown in multiple examples of having a mental illness including admitting to having a disease and strange thoughts. These are obvious signs of mental problems which would make it easy to conclude by saying the narrator is not guilty due to the evidence that supports the statement that he does indeed have mental problems.