Analysis “The tell-tale heart”

The tell-tale heart was written by Edgar Allan Poe. He is well-known American writer who is famous for his short stories. He described the short story such way: short enough to be read in one sitting and constructed to create a single effect.

The tell-tale heart is one of the most dreadful Poe’s stories. This story tells about a person, who commits the murder of the old man. The crime was carefully planned. Seven nights running the murderer came to the old man and rehearsed his plan. When he killed the old man, he dismembered the corpse and hid it under the floor planks. Next day when the police came to search the premises, the murderer stood calm and welcome. Nothing betrayed him as a murderer except from steady heart beating of the old man from under the planks. The murderer was sure the police heard this beating and just hold him in derision. He confessed he admitted the deed.

The author depicted the scene of “ideal crime”. The crime which has no object can scarcely be revealed. And only criminal conscience can expose him.

The story begins with the word “True”. It can mean that murderer admits his guilt. Poe depicted a character who is convinced he is not mad but has a rare disease. This disease sharps his senses, especially the sense of hearing acute. During the story the main character constantly tries to persuade the reader he is not mad. I suppose he is not mad, but when a person tries to prove sth steadily, it has an opposite effect. His repetitions of being not mad could make sb believe in his madness. The question, if the criminal was mad or not, is one of the main. The story was written in 1843. 3 years earlier came out the law which announced the innocence of those criminals who were really mad.

I was interested in the way of telling the story from the first words. The narrator used short, abrupt sentences in his tale. He used many repetitions and do not want to miss any detail. The closer the end was approaching, the more tense was increasing. The murderer was a bit nervous but he enjoyed describing the crime. He was proud of himself how wisely and cunningly he organised the crime. The author doesn’t tell who the interlocutor of the murderer is. It is hardly possible it is lawyer, more probably it is a cell mate.

One of the symbols of the text was the eye of vulture. According to the words of the murderer definitely the eye became the object of the crime. The evil eye made him furious and uncontrollable. The evil makes people serve to it. The author said no word about the relations between the old man and the murderer. Perhaps the murderer wanted to get freedom and independence and it was the reason of his crime.

A lot of details strike the reader’s eye while reading. For example, seven nights running the murderer rehearsed the crime; he committed the crime at midnight. There were a lot of references to other world presence.

Moreover, one more point which strokes my eye was the murderer told the process of preparing to the crime much longer than the moment of committing the crime. The murderer was obsessed with process, action more than with result.

The last passage was the culmination. The author depicted the emotional condition of the murderer. He was pale. He heard the heart beating under the floor planks. In fact it was his own beating. But he could not cope with his emotions. The author used many verbs with negative connotations (foamed – raved – swore). He used graphical device to underline the main points. Emotions in the last passage reached their apogee.

One of the main ideas of the text is human obsession. The author exaggerates the influence of it. The better way is to have moderation in everything. The author’s purpose for writing this tale is to show the thoughts of a man whose type of thinking is totally different from other people. However, no one person has the right to take the life of the other one. It is a moral sin.

Поиск по сайту: