Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Tell Tale Heart" illustrates how a man's thoughts can be so dramatic that they affect other people's lives. Poe's short story is told through a first-person narration and also in this case the murder's perspective. This gloomy story tells of a perfect murder that is resolved almost as fast as it transpired. Throughout the story the murder tries to construct the belief that he is not insane, in doing this however, it can clearly be seen that he is. Knowing this story is being told by the insane murder, he brings us, the readers, into his twisted mind showing us how unreliable of a narrator he is.

In the beginning of the story a reader can tell almost immediately that the narrator is a little outlandish. In the entirety of the first paragraph the narrator talks of how nervous he is. He then talks of some disease he believes he has, leading into "being able to hear all things in the heaven and in the earth" and to "hearing many things in hell". Any sane person is able to tell he is fanatical over something. It could be hard to be able to put faith in a person who talks the way the narrator has thus far. When the story continues into the next few paragraphs the narrator tells of his love for the rich old man who never wronged nor insulted him. Yet, because the old mans "pale eye, with a film over it" as the narrator described, this is the reason he got rid of the old man. Here is yet another underlying reason why this narrator should not be trusted, who would murder a loved one because of an eye that horrified them?

When the story picks up again the narrator goes in depth on the murder, why, how, and where he did the ghastly deed. He tells of his plan and how he was so "cunning and wise". It sounds as if he is proud of what he had done. The narrator even says "I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done" while committing