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Robert Brunn
October 26th, 2014
English Composition 1
Essay 3
The Crazy Adventures of Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is known for his scary stories and his unique way of writing. It seemed
like he would never do anything that was in the norm when it came to writing. He was always
doing whatever he wanted to do and it showed in his short stories and poems. In Edgar Allan
Poes The Tell-Tale Heart the narrator is trying to show the reader that he isnt insane.
The story begins with the narrator seeming to try and justify what he had done and to
prove that he isnt insane by saying, True! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been
and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not
destroyed --not dulled them.(Poe Pars1) By starting the story off like this it makes the reader
think as if the beginning of the story is actually the ending of the story. It could be the ending
due to the fact that it seems like he is retelling the story to someone trying to convince to him or
her that he isnt insane.
When the narrator says, but why will you say that I am mad?(Poe Pars 1), the narrator
is trying to convince someone that he isnt crazy. He could also be trying to convince the readers
that he hasnt completely gone insane. Or could it be that narrator was trying to prove to himself
that he wasnt crazy. Then the narrator tries to prove that he isnt crazy by telling either himself
or that person his story. His story does the opposite of what he was trying to prove. It actually
makes him seem even crazier then he did before.

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The narrator talks about how he loved the old man and never really did anything wrong to
him, but for some reason he just decides that he wants to kill him. This is an incredible that the
narrator actually likes the old man, but he wants to kill him. The reason he gives is because of
the old mans eye. The narrator says, He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film
over it.(Poe Pars 2) Obviously no normal person thinks like this so yet again he is disproving
himself throughout the story.
Poe uses a great amount of symbolism early on in the story. An example of that
symbolism is comparing the old mans eye to a vulture. The narrator also states that he couldnt
kill the old man those first nights because he never saw the eye. He actually liked the old man he
just wanted to kill the blue eye, which again links back to how our narrator is loosing his mind.
The narrator even says, And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight --but I
found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man
who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.(Poe Pars 3) The narrator seems like he is trying to reason what
he was doing again to show how he isnt insane. In this part of the story he shows a little bit of
rational thinking, but not even close to enough logical thinking to believe that he is acting like a
normal sane person.
The narrator has such a peculiar obsession with the old mans blue eye. One would guess
since the narrator said its an old blue eye with a film over it that the old man had some sort of
cataracts. It might not even be cataracts. It could be that the old man is wearing a glass eye. It
would make more sense as to why the narrator is so obsessed and afraid of the eye, because he
would never know if that eye was truly looking at him or not. When the narrator says,
Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees --very gradually --I made up
my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.(Poe Pars 1) The

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narrator says his blood would run cold so he hated that eye so much that he wanted the old man
dead. It could also be that the narrator was so afraid of the eye that he decided to kill it before it
got him. Either way Poe does a great job of giving the eye, an inanimate object, and turning it
into like a real life person. That is also called personification. Poes use of personification to the
eye is so subtle and brilliant. The eye turns into a motive in order to kill someone and Poe makes
it seem like its a valid reason for a few seconds. It took me a couple of times to realize that Poe
personified the eye, but once I realized that it all made even more sense.
On the eighth night of the narrator checking in on the old man he finally gets to
loud and wakes him up. It is so dark that the old man cant see his head within the room. Then
the narrator finally sees what hes been waiting to see, the eye. The narrator says, saw it with
perfect distinctness --all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in
my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray
as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.(Poe Pars 6) This is another part in the story
where the narrator really shows he has lost his mind. When the narrator says the old man asks
who is there why doesnt he just respond and go back to bed? Why was he so determined to do it
that night? The narrator says that he was so cunning and two faced to the old man why couldnt
he have just said something like I was just checking in on you. Seeing the eye that night was like
a catalyst for the narrator. He goes from thinking of doing crazy things to actually doing
psychotic things, because he actually saw the eye. The eye is like a trigger to the narrator and it
metaphorically was like shooting a loaded gun at the narrator.
Another part of this story that makes the narrator seem like he has completely lost his
sanity is when he talks about the heartbeat. The narrator says, Now, I say, there came to my ears
a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound

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well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum
stimulates the soldier into courage. (Poe Pars 6) This makes it seem like only the narrator can
hear the heartbeat. He then uses a great metaphor comparing his increased fury to the beating of
a drum and how it makes a soldier braver. So with this way of thinking the narrator gets so much
courage from the heartbeat being so loud he figures someone could hear it so he decides to kill
the old man. This implies that the loud beat of his heart gave the narrator enough courage to
actually kill the old man.
After killing the old man he then cuts up all of the old mans body.
The narrator says,
If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise
precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked
hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the
arms and the legs. (Poe Pars 8)
This is where he completely loses his sanity. He cuts the old man, a person that he likes, up into
pieces. He still thinks he was acting like a sane person, which is even more troublesome to even
think of how someone can think that is rational behavior.
He hides the body underneath three floorboards. The narrator says, I then replaced the
boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye --not even his --could have detected any
thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot whatever. I
had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --ha! ha! (Poe Pars 8) He is so proud of the way
he hid the body he would say not even the old man would see it. This makes the reader assume
that the old man was a perfectionist and saw every flaw very easily. Perhaps he saw all the flaws
in the narrator and that is the true motive of why the old man was killed. It makes sense that he

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wouldnt want any of the blood to spill anywhere because that would make a mess, but what is
puzzling is why the narrator would laugh like that. No sane person would be laughing after
killing and then cutting them up into pieces. Granted, no normal person would kill someone like
that, but thats a whole other topic. So this proves yet again that the narrator loses his mind
throughout the story. The narrator laughs because he feels as if he is getting the last laugh on the
old mans eye.
Then he gets the chance to actually prove that he is a sane person in front of the cops. The
narrator says he convinces the cops that nothing is wrong at all and he invites them to look
around and then he asks them to sit down with him. He tells the cops that the old man is away in
the country right now. He is so confident that he puts his own chair on the exact floorboards that
the old mans body is underneath. The narrator says, The officers were satisfied. My manner
had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they
chatted of familiar things. (Poe Pars 9) This is the point that the narrator thinks he is going to
get away with killing the old man. In this little part of the story the narrator does act and seem
like a sane person, but it only lasts for a little. The narrator became overconfident which made it
easy for anyone to predict what would happen next.
Then one of the greatest situational ironies happens next. The narrator was so cocky
about how no one would find out about what he did and because of that he thought he was
invincible. Then the irony hit him like a sack of bricks. The heartbeat started and at first it was a
low murmur. Then it continued to get louder and louder. The irony is that he thought he killed
the old man, but the old man is getting some revenge on the narrator through the heartbeat. The
narrator goes insane trying to stop the noise that only he can hear. The heartbeat doesnt only
represent irony, but it also represents the narrators guilt for killing the old man. The heartbeat

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causes the narrator to admit to killing the old man and tells them to rip up the 3 floorboards in
which he put the old mans dead body at.
Actual prove that no one else could hear the heartbeat besides the narrator are the cops.
They act normal and dont ask what that noise is and continue to have their normal conversation.
The narrator says,
They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my
horror! -this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony!
Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no
longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder!
louder! (Poe Pars 9)
This means that the heartbeat is actually inside the narrators head because the cops couldnt hear
the noise. It could be the narrators way of showing remorse or guilt. Whatever the heartbeat was
suppose to display it just proves that he was the only one hearing it and yet again shows how the
narrator is insane.
In conclusion, the narrator throughout the entire story tries to prove to either the readers
or possibly a shrink that he isnt crazy. For the most part he did the complete opposite, but did
show a little sanity by showing some sort of remorse for what he did. Also, the first paragraph is
actually in real time the ending of the story, because he starts the story by telling someone a
story. I think he is in prison talking to a psych ward trying to prove that he is mentally sane. This
is a riveting story that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Writing Process Reflection
My writing process for this story was to read it over three times. Every time I read the story I
would look at a different aspect of the story. Then I wrote down all the aspects that I could find
within the story to write about. Then I looked for each one had the most supporting facts with it.
That is what led me to my thesis and helped me tremendously with my paper. At first it was a
challenge to think that I had to write a six-page paper and I think that put a mental block on me
at first, but once I started it actually became quite easy. The flow of the paper is also another
thing that I believe I was struggling with so it helped a lot to get another persons opinion on my
paper. This turned out to be one of the easier papers we have done and I am honestly shocked
that I am saying a six-page paper was easy! To help with my flow I decided to follow the way
Poe wrote the story. I believe writing thing out first before I typed it also make it much easier to
know what I wanted to talk about next.

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Work Cited
Poe, Edgar A. "The Tell-Tale Heart." Edgar Allen Poe: Sixty-Seven Tales. New York: Gramercy,
1990. 355-57. Print.