Tell Tale Heart Critical Analy

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of guilt easily, if not eventually, crashes through the seemingly unbreakable walls of insanity.
On the surface, the physical setting of The Tell Tale Heart is typical of the period and exceedingly typical of Poe. The narrator and the old man live in an old, dark house: “(for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers)” (Poe 778). Most of the story takes place at night: “And this I did for seven long nights-every night just at midnight…” (778). The physical aspect is not the most important component of setting for this analysis. More important are the mental and emotional settings. This clearly explains the personality of the narrator. One can assume the narrator is insane. He freely admits to his listener that he is “…-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous…” (777). But he then asks, “…but why will you say that I am mad?” (777). He also admits that, “The disease had sharpened my ...

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of the men-but the noise steadily increased…I foamed-
I raved-I swore!…the noise arose over all and continually increased.
It grew louder-louder-louder!…They heard!-they suspected!-they
knew!…I felt I must scream or die!”(780).
The narrator proceeded to admit his killing of the old man. Obviously, his mental state was one of pure fear and disillusion. An auditory hallucination of a dead heart beating caused so much mental anguish in the narrator that it made him confess to the crime. This indeed shows insanity. Yet this insanity was not as strong as the guilt pushing through it.
Another element that supports the theme is character. Poe never ...

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