The fear of getting caught would be a normal reaction to someone who has committed a murder. These extreme actions can be used as evidence to the paranoia that is taking shape. He then takes extreme steps in disposing of the body, dismembering it and burying it under the planks in the floorboard. He quickly subdues the old man and kills him. During this frenzy, the narrator is afraid that neighbors will hear the beating of the man’s heart. The narrator goes into a paranoid frenzy, mistaking the beating of his heart for the beating of the old man’s heart. One night, during one of the narrator’s “stalking” sessions, the old man awakens. However, while the eye was closed, the narrator was at peace. He toiled with the idea while the man was awake, that is, while he could see the “evil eye”. The actual act of murder, which the narrator believes was premeditated, was in fact a spur of the moment action. This may be the reason why the narrator is so obsessed with watching the old man sleep. It is not until the old man awakens each day that the struggle within is apparent. While the eye was closed, so was the idea of killing the old man. He found comfort in knowing that the eye was not watching him, that it could not see the true evil within his soul. Every night he would watch the old man sleep. The way the narrator “stalks” the old man the whole week before he kills him can be evidence of a problem. He describes the “wise” ways in which he prepares himself to commit this deed. The progression of the story revolves around the actions of the narrator. ” (Kennedy & Gioia, 34) The “disease” that the narrator is talking about eats away at his conscience until “ made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever. I heard all things in the heavenI heard many things in hell. “The disease had sharpened my sensesAbove all was the sense of hearing acute. He talks as if he is in frenzy, especially when he talks about hearing things in heaven and in hell. This statement can be looked upon as a statement made by someone going through a paranoid episode. In the first paragraph, he asks, “but why will you say that I am mad! Kennedy & Gioia, 34) If this holds true, then the narrator has the characteristics of a “madman”. It is said that denial is usually the sign of a problem. This paranoia leads the narrator to believe that the only way he can put down his fears is to kill the old man. The narrator has an inner struggle with the thought that “the evil eye” is watching him and an underlying feeling that “the evil eye” will see the real person that he has become. The very fact that this narrator is so repulsed by the old man’s eye, which he refers to as “the evil eye”, is reason enough to be suspicious of his character. The actions that this narrator performs in order to quell his fear can lead others to believe that he suffers from some sort of mental illness. In the Tell Tale Heart, a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator of the story is faced with a fear. Usually, these characters are faced with situations that give us an insight into their true “character”. The short story can produce many different “types” of characters.
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