Tell-Tale Heart "TRUE!--nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I ahdbeen and am; but why will you say that I am mad?" Edgar Allan Poe shows usthe dark part of human kind. Conflict with in ones self, state of madness,and emotional break down all occur within tis short story. The narrator ofthe story is a mad man that is haunted by his idea that the old man has anevil eye.There are two conflicts that occur with the story: internal andexternal; The internal conflict is the narrator's guilt over killing theold man forces him to believe that he hears the dead man's heart beating.
"I talked more quickly-more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased".the external conflict is the eye itself; the narrator feels that the oldman's eye is always watching him in turn makes him think he can read hismind. "It was open - wide, wide open - and I grew furious as I gazed uponit. I saw it with perfect distinctness - all a dull blue, with a hideousveil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones".
A madman can onlytake so much when he ficated on an eye. State of madness is very implicitin this case.The fact that the narrator was way too overly patient and dedicatedto stalking the old man night after night, at midnight. Seven days beforehe decides to commit his evil deed. Was obviously the act of a keen madman."Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust in! I moved itslowly - very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man'ssleep.
It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so farthat I could see him as he lay upon his bed". The narrator keeps implyingthat he is very, very dreadfully nervous. "I knew that sould well, too. Itwas the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as thebeating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage". This also gives usthe reader the hint of him being mad.
When ones actions that are thoughtout with knowing the harsh consequences are a key sign to madness.Basically, what I think Edgar Allen Poe is trying to imply to us isthat everyone holds a little madness within and subconsciously. We mustfight the urge and accept it fully, to be excepter and considered normal.Because everyone's got to do it.
The emotional feeling of the narrator arethose of the depressed. He is neither shy or outgoing. He thinks he isskillful and not mad. "If you still think me mad, you will think so nolonger when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment ofthe body". He states this because he is trying to persuade the reader intothinking he's smart. Therefore, making the reader come up with the idea howcould you be mad if you are smart.
He does not seem to be caring, yet hedoes state he lover the old man. "Object there was none. Passion there wasnone. I loved the old man".
He is dishonest though for he wan't going totell the police about the dead body until his subconsciout thoughts madehim believe that they also heard the horrifying heart beat of the old man.Which caused his emotional breakdown.Ones own subconscious mind could create emotions that can persuadeone to do deeds in which he/she never thought of. Either it be good or bad,like the narrator's feelings towards the old man's eye. Emotions are thosenot to be put aside or forgotten about. But should be dealt with andconditioned to a norm.
Mind over matter.
