Poes Narratives Essay -- Literary Analysis

Poe has given his narrator in â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† multiple currently diagnosable psychological disorders: bipolarity, obsessive compulsive disorder, psychopathy, and paranoia. Although he is a psychopath by Hare’s definition, among the disorders, the narrator’s sense of fear is the most motivating. On a first reading, it might seem that the narrator committed murder because of his unjustified hatred towards the victim, or more specifically, the victim’s â€Å"evil eye.† And later, he confesses to his crime because of the overwhelming guilt he feels which causes him to hear the supernatural beating of the dead man’s heart. However, as a psychopath, the narrator is incapable of feeling guilt. I will demonstrate that it is not hatred toward what is outside of the self that drove the narrator to murder and confession but the hatred and the immense fear of the insanity within himself that motivated such irrational actions. To assert his sanity to his audience, the narrator goes into detail of the murder first by describing his careful method of observing the old man at night for seven nights, and later on by stressing his careful concealment of the corpse. He also describes the dismembering casually as if it is only a matter of an everyday chore. He neglects the greater facts by concentrating on minute details of entering the man’s room and of the careful concealment of the body instead of the horrific implications of his planned crime. The murder itself is treated by the narrator as a minor detail of his scheming; the plotting is the most significant factor. His extreme caution is driven by the fear of presumed insanity because according to the narrator, his actions were logical and those who have logic cannot be insane. After the ... ...nly a logical person can carry out a crime in such a well-planned manner. His fear of his insanity is so great that he refuses to even consider the possibility of the accusation of being insane. According to him, those who see him as insane are clearly insane themselves. Works Cited Haycock, Dean. â€Å"Hare Psychopathy Checklist.† Healthonline. 2003. http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/hare-psychopathy-checklist/3 Jerga, Josh. â€Å"Accused Chainsaw Murderer Had 'Shark' Eyes.† News.smh. 11/15/2010. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/accused-chainsaw-murderer-had-shark -eyes-20101115-17u4c.html. Merriam-Webster. 2010. http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/antisocial%20personality%20disorder Poe, Edgar Allan. â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart.† The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7th ed. vol. B. Ed. Baym, Nina. New York: Norton, 2007. Print.