Characters of The Tell-Tale Heart Essay - 1184 Words

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe is a short story that dives into the mind of an insane man. The story only features five characters. There is an old man with a blue eye, the crazed killer, and three police. The story is narrated by the nameless murderer. It is his attempt to justify his behavior and to prove to the reader that he is not crazy. As the story goes on you come to the realization that he is actually insane. The characters in this story are complex, interesting, and elaborate. The first character to be introduced is the old man. Just like every other character, the old man does not receive a name. He has a blue eye that appears to have a film over it. According to the story he has quite a bit of gold in his house. The†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"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. Above all was the sense of hearing acute . I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.† (Poe 1). Shortly after the narrator decides he is going to kill the old man, he starts to watch him sleep. For a week he comes into the old man’s room at night and watches him. He makes sure to open the door just a crack so that he can slip his head into the room. When he does get his head into the room he takes his lantern and shines a tiny beam to the old man’s eye. He comments that the eye is never looking back at him. This makes sense since the old man is sleeping. The narrator ensures you that all of his precaution means that he is not crazy. â€Å"Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work† (Poe 1) . The only reason that the old man was not killed during the narrators midnight visits into the old man’s room was because he could not see the eye. Since the old man himself did not bother the narrator he would not haveShow MoreRelatedThe Characters Of Nervousness In The Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe761 Words   |  4 PagesIn Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character changed as a person through the duration of the poem due to the terrible crime he commited. Before our main character killed the old man he was living with, the character is seen as nervous, but also very gentle and loving. We start off the whole story with the main character saying, â€Å"TRUE! nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why WILL you say that I am mad† (Poe 1)? 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