Literary Analysis: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
- Darken Wolf
- Sep 21
- 6 min read
“Words have no power to impress the minds without the exquisite horror of their reality.” Edgar Allan Poe
The interest in the dark and grim writing of horror has been with humanity for a long time, from local ghost stories to monsters of folklore even to the horrific acts committed by others. In the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, we can peer into a mirror of humanity's dark reality. The heart-wrenching story of “The Tell-Tale Heart” delves into the fear of the haunting reality of crazed murders. By examining his life and his writing style, one can examine his work properly. His struggle with addiction and mental illness seeps into the words he has written in all his stories, especially “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Edgar Allan Poe is a complicated man, and his writing style is formed through his heartbreak and failures. In this paper, there will be a summary of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, followed by an investigation into the life of Edgar Allan Poe, and finally an examination of the literary art style of Edgar and how his personal experience seeps into his works.
The Tell-Tale Heart is a gothic short story written from the perspective of a murderer who claims to be sane. “True—Nervous—Very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am but why will you say that I am mad?” (Poe 498) The introduction sets the mood for the story's narrator by giving the reader a sense of uneasiness. He killed an old man who had a “pale blue eye” which gave the narrator a feeling of absolute dread. Despite the degree to which the narrator likes the old man, his hatred of his evil eye continues to grow until he decides to rid himself of the old man.” Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing.” (Poe 498) Through the reader’s eyes he is a madman; what makes this short story so interesting is the rationality of the narrator for his crime. Continuing with our story; He decided to kill the old man. He takes his time preparing to murder him watching him sleep and slowly creep into his room to see how far he can get, and what line can he push before waking the old man up. On the night of the murder, he did as he usually did creep into the room of the old man; moving ever so quietly as to not wake the old man. However, “he old man sprang up in bed, crying out—‘Who’s there?’” (Poe 499) He tried to wait till the old man felt safe and went back to sleep. Then heard the beating of his heart. “The old man’s hour has come. With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room.” (Poe 500) He murders him, but his heart still beats softly. He hid the old man in the floorboards which he replaced. There was no blood or evidence of a crime, this the narrator was sure. Then at four o’clock, there is a knock at the front door, which the narrator is not worried about because of the perfection of his crime, “I went down to pen it with a light heart—for what had I now to fear?” (Poe 500) Three police officers enter the building questioning the narrator about the scream that was heard that night. The narrator is cocky when he explained where the old man was and gives a tour of the house. He sat them down on the floorboards in which he committed a crime most heinous. Then he hears it. A faint heartbeat can be heard. He tries in vain to continue the conversation, but the sound gets louder and louder. “’ Villians!’ I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed! —tear up the planks! Here, here! —It is the beating of his hideous heart!’” He exposes his crime in front of the police officers. It can be assumed this story is an interview with him in his jail cell.
Although there is much to talk about with just the story alone; the historical life of Edgar Allan Poe is an important factor to consider when reading his works. Going into a short biography of Edgar Allan Poe, to give context into his dark writing style. Poe’s life was one of darkness and chaos. With mental illness, death, and addiction plagued him until his death at the young age of forty. “Hunger, cold, disease and death stalked him and his family throughout much of his brief life. So did alcohol, opium, gambling debts and a passionate bent for self-destruction” (Kilian 1)
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809 (Kennedy 19) His parents were both actors who were well known in his little area of Charleston, Norfolk, and Richmond. His father was an alcoholic who abandoned his family, and his mother died in Richmond on October 11, 1811 (Kennedy 19) This is a tragic beginning to Edgar’s life losing both parents by the time he was two years old. “Poe was adopted by a well-to-do Richmond tobacco broker, John Allan.” (Kilian 1) During his schooling, he was a young prodigy earning high marks as a student, especially in English and Latin. “But after years of enjoying Allan’s favor as a “very fine boy,” the teenaged Poe grew mischievous,” (Kennedy 21) He often pranked the people around him and was very into romancing the girls around him. This is around the time Poe started drinking which, like his father, would grow into his biggest vice. Poe went to school at the University of Virginia (Kennedy 23) His adoptive father had big expectations for him only for them to be ruined by Poe’s radical behavior. He often gambled and drank; he also had fistfights and pistol duels. He eventually left college and had a massive fight with his adoptive father (in later writing his adoptive father was the only person he cared to impress) and moved to Boston without a penny to his name. (Kennedy 25) He eventually ended up joining the United States Army after failing as a poet in Boston. (Kilian 1) This was a turning point in his life because he would return to civilian life as a writer for Gentleman’s Magazine and would write his greatest works. However, when his wife died in 1847, he began having violent drinking binges and at one point attempted suicide. (Kilian 1) His death was a mystery he was often calling out “Raymond” and was clinically insane. He either died of his alcoholism or another suicide attempt.
After the side tangent of Edgar Allan Poe’s life let’s examine “The Tell-Tale Heart.” It is important to know Poe’s life story because the fiction is not too far from the writer. Poe was a deeply disturbed man experiencing horrors that many of us had not suffered yet. The loss of his parents, the disapproval of his father, his ongoing mental health issues, his alcoholism, and the death of his love led to him dying in a mental hospital. His suffering is told within every word he wrote. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story about a deranged man “who recalls his grisly murder of an old man, his loving companion, and who tries to explain the reason for both this abominable act and his ultimate confession.” (Zimmerman 342) In a way, the narrator reflects on the mental illness that Edgar Allan suffered. His delusion of being grander and of being innocent is also reflected in Poe’s life. Let’s dig into the writing style that Poe used to portray the mental illness of the narrator in this horrifying short story. One of the most noteworthy sentence structures Poe uses in this story is the use of pauses. “True! —Nervous very, very dreadfully nervous.” (Poe 498) the pause shows the nervousness of the narrator and how he is not right in the head. Furthermore, Poe often repeats certain phrases such as the word “louder” and repeats how sane the narrator is. He also goes into painstaking detail about how meticulously the narrator kills the old man, he is often repeating and practicing doing the perfect crime. This shows how dedicated and focused the narrator is in the story. Finally, Poe masterfully puts a noise into the story that can be heard when reading it. The beating heart of the old man. He does this through the physical and emotional effect this “noise” has on the deranged narrator. In my opinion, he masterfully writes like this because his own experience with mental illness led to him having great insight into his writing “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a masterfully written short story that shows off mental illness and delusion better in some works of non-fiction. The murder of the old man and the narrator's obsession with his eye keep the reader's attention throughout the tale. Poe’s own story of struggle is felt within this amazing piece of literature. Therefore, it is a masterpiece that can still be enjoyed today.
Work Cited
Zimmerman, Brett. Edgar Allan Poe: Rhetoric and Style. McGill-Queen’s University Press. 2005
Kennedy, Gerald J. A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe. Oxford University Press. 2001
Kilian, Michael. “Edgar Allan Poe: A Man of Mystery, Tragedy Forevermore: (Final Edition)” Chicago Tribune. 10 Nov, 1996
Edgar Allan Poe Complete Tales and Poems. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Fall River Press. 2006
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