Psychological Approach to a Crazed Man
Tell-Tale Heart
Dejan Grahovac
ENG 4UI
Mr. St. John
April 2 2012
Tell-Tale Heart : Psychological Approach to a Crazed Man
"To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts." (Poe 4). In the short story, the Tell Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe created a dark, mysterious and disturbing impression of what a murder taking place may be like. He gives you a first person impression on a horrific deed, with his use of a very paranoid and agitated narrator as well as his excellent use of literary devices he created a heart racing thriller. It was apparent that Poe was alluding to the study of paranoia and mental deterioration. Therefore employing the psychological approach to Tell Tale Heart ,Edgar Allan Poe reveals striking aspects that would otherwise be imperceptible. The striking irony in this work becomes evident when the psychological critical approach is employed. Similarly symbolism becomes distinct in the novel when analyzing it through this critical approach. Disjointed and prolonged sentence structure helps finalize the image of a crazed mad man when looking at the story through a psychological mind set. Poe reflects the narrators crazed and unstable mind, he is able to capture and even further the heinous act of that forsaken night of the old man's grim death.
Irony plays a major role in the Tell Tale Heart. It first appears when the narrator begins repeating the idea that he is not mad and that somehow he is sane. Do to the fact that the narrator remains genderless,we never truly know if it is a women or a man, but we tend to assume its a man. The narrator tries to prove his sanity to the reader by calmly taking them back to the events of the murder but fails when the beating of the dead mans lifeless heart consumes him. The beating of the still heart engulfs the narrator to a point were he confesses his horrific murder to the police...