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The Tell-tale heart: discussion

The reader is thrown into the action right away, this is called in medias res. Edgar Allan Poe
doesnt give the reader any introduction to the story. It starts with the main character saying
that he/she has done something wrong, we can deduct from his/her language that he/she
has a psychological issue. The character hears all the things in heaven, on earth and in hell.
He/she also tries to convince the reader that he/she isnt mad, but this has an opposite
effect. In the end, you have a much clearer view on the situation of the protagonist because
Edgar Allan Poe uses a flashback after the first paragraph. The problem is resolved in the
end of the story as he/she killed the old man because of his evil eye. Theres an exciting
passage in line 38 where the old man springs up in bed and cries out Whos there?. The
man really gives us the creeps. A passage with a tense atmosphere is line 68-72, when the
main character describes how furious he is because of the old man and his eye. The most
climatic passage is by no doubt the passage where the old man is killed by the main
character (line 78-86). We can call this the first real climax because it's so scary. When the
police knocks on the door even though the protagonist thought he got away with murder, that
is the second climax. The third, and last climax, is when he/she admits he committed the
murder and shows where he 'buried' the old man. We can say the story has two important
peaks, namely when the protagonist kills the old man, and when he/she tells it to the police.
The main character is a nervous person. He/she has a mental disease and has no desire for
gold, he/she says. We learn this because he/she said this himself. It is most likely that the
main character is male. The old man had a pale blue eye with a film over it. He couldnt get
out of bed, so he is pretty old. The main character loved the old man, but because of the pale
blue eye, he felt the need to kill him. This eye really creeped him out (11), he even said his
blood ran cold when he saw it. The protagonist is the person who is most in action, while the
old man just lays in bed. This is quite logic because he cant get out of his bed. The main
character looks after the old man, makes up a plan to kill him and eventually murders him.
The old man is freaked out late at night because the main character stares at him. Three
policemen and a neighbour are also characters in the story, although they dont have a very
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important role. The neighbour calls the police because he/she heard a scream and the police
comes looking for evidence of a struggle or a murder, which they dont find. The police are
called criminals because the protagonist thinks they are playing with him. He thinks they hear
the beating of the old mans heart, but dont say anything to torment him. The narrative
perspective that is used, is first-person narration. We get the information through the eyes of
the main character, but we dont know whether this is a man or a woman. We dont even get
to know his/her name. But because of the circumstances, it is probably a man. This creates a
certain mystery around the characters and especially around the protagonist. Because the
only version of the story we have, is told through the eyes of a crazy person, its very likely
that the story he tells isnt entirely correct. You cant trust what he is saying. The reason he
kills him might not be the same as he tells the readers. The intro is told in the present, but
then the whole story is a flashback. It is told in the past tense. Sometimes the narrative time
is slower than the real time (10), like when he describes the old mans blue eye. The author
plays around with time to create more tension. When he feels the extent of his powers (31), it
should only take a few seconds. But the author dedicates almost 4 sentences to it. When the
character is stressed or scared, time slows down, while when he isnt nervous, all the events
go faster. A good example: the murder happens at one oclock, but the police only arrives at
four oclock. In the three hours in between, the killer is more at ease because the murder
already took place, so the time goes very fast. The setting of the story is the house where the
main character and the old man live in. The reader doesnt really get a detailed description of
what the house looks like, but you can tell that theres a ghastly atmosphere. There is a
passage that could be a reference to rape because it's said that the old man groans,
thrusting in his head, while he gets murdered in the bedroom. The author plays around with
peoples thoughts (1). Because the story begins in medias res, he creates a nervous and
exciting atmosphere. In the end he recreates this atmosphere because the main character
hears a ringing in his ears. We wonder where this comes from, what it means and if its real
(108). He tricked our minds too because he was peering at the old man at midnight, and we
wonder why he did this (19). The open ending also reinforces this atmosphere. We dont
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know what will happen with the man and how the police officers will respond. The images
used in this story are the eye, the heart and time. He uses these three images together in the
death watch (42). This is a beetle species. We can find the eye in the death watch, the
beetle also watches the murder. Because of this murder, the heart of the old man stopped
beating. The watch can refer to time and the beetle is just on time to see the murder
happen.

The Tell-tale heart: film 1941 (Dassin, 1941)

Contrary to the original story of Edgar Allan Poe, we have an ab ovo beginning. This means
that we dont start right in the action. The story begins slow with no real tension. We might
say that the most climactic incident in the small movie is the murder itself, just like in the
story. While the story builds up to this climactic event, the film doesnt. Due to the fact that
the old man is already awake at the first night the man looks at him and the man murders
him on the first night, there is a lack of excitement from the man itself. So there isnt a
constructive tension. Contrary to the story, it seems that the old man gives the man the idea
of killing him. Not that the man is disgusted by his eye. When they go to bed, the old man
suspects that something is wrong. This is not the case in the story, where the old man has no
idea of whats going on in the beginning. The light of the man doesnt shine right in the evil
eye of the old man, as was told in story, but shines through the room and lightens up his
entire bed. If we read between the lines in the story, we could deduct that there was a rape
scene before the murder. We could also suspect this from the film because the time between
the struggle in the old mans bed and the murder on the ground, isnt shown.
Contrary to the story, the man hears the beating of the old mans heart before the police
visits. He even faints. Unlike the story the police officers dont have a drink or chat. At first
they believe that the main character didnt commit murder, but when they question him
further, they begin to suspect something. There is no such thing mentioned in the story itself.
They get more suspicious when the man sweeps a chair over the same spot on the floor. But

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both the story and the film mention that the man sits where the old man lies under the ground
and that he gets mad of the old mans pounding heart. He also thinks that the police are
messing with him. He thinks they also hear the heartbeat, just as in the original story.
Contrary to the story, he doesnt tell where the body is hidden, but he gives enough clues so
they can figure it out themselves. While the story gives us an open ending, the film gives us a
more closed ending. The man leaves the house with two officers, not three like in the original
copy. But it seems that he has found his peace when they discovered the body as opposed
to the story. The man is very submissive to the old man. He is a kind of slave who has to do
the dirty jobs. However, in the story, it seems that he has to take care of the old man. He also
does not love his master. This master isnt cripple, like the story would make us believe.
Another difference is that in the story, the old man doesnt have a significant role. He doesnt
say a lot, while in the film the old man is the character that talks the most. The relationship
between the two main characters is just as in the story not very clear. We do know that the
man is thirty and that he has been living with the old man since he was fourteen. We can
deduct from this that the man is dependent from the old man, and not the other way around,
like in the original story. The old man also mentions this, although he isnt a very reliable
source. Some similarities of the film and the story are that the old man has a film over his
eye, its not clear if this is indeed a vultures eye. Another is when the police came and they
said a neighbour heard a scream, he claimed that it was his because he had a nightmare. He
also says that the old man went into the city, but in the original cover he says that the old
man is absent in the country. The film is shown in the third person as opposed to the story,
where it is told in the first person narration. We get the information through the mans eyes,
but the old man plays a significant role, as mentioned before. The viewer gets a sort of
sympathy for the man, because he is oppressed by the old man. The old man is not a nice
person, to say the least. It gives us the feeling that its good that the old man is murdered,
which was not the purpose of the story. As opposed to the story, there is no flashback in the
film. The narrative time corresponds with the real time, but both go very slowly. While in the
story the time goes faster when the man isnt nervous and it goes slower when he is. The
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author doesnt really play around with time in the movie. Both in the story and in the film, the
space is functional and doesnt have a significant value. I think that the director of the film
didnt have the intention to give the story a deeper meaning. He may want to give us a
message. When you kill someone, you will get caught and otherwise you will be haunted by
your conscience. Maybe there is another hidden message in the film. I think that he might
suggest that when you are oppressed, you dont have to put up with the humiliations or the
mental abuse, but that you have to step up for yourself. But personally I think that murder is
rather a radical solution.

Gothic elements
A gothic element that is obviously present in the original story is the abnormal psychological
state of the main character. We recognise immediately that this is the story of a madman.
Those two elements were written by (Whitley, 2000). A subterranean danger is also a gothic
element (Whitley, 2000). On one hand because a madman can be indeed very dangerous, in
this story he kills someone, and on the other hand because the eye of the old man is driving
the protagonist crazy. This last one can be seen as a danger for the main character. The fact
that he is mad, could be an internal power (Bowen, 2014), which makes him do things he
wouldnt want to do if he was sane. Sexuality is also a gothic element (Bowen, 2014). In the
story we can deduct that there is a rape scene present. The experience of a madman who
wants to kill someone is the opposite of beautiful and pleasurable, another characteristic.
(Bowen, 2014) We can connect this with the experience of fear and terror (Phillips, 2007), the
fear would be of the old man, and terror of the main character. A basement becomes in the
story a place under a few floorboards (Whitley, 2000) where the main character hides the
body.

Biography of E.A. Poe

The author lost his father and mother at a very young age. The absence of a father-figure
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could have played a role in the Tell-tale Heart. Although he had a foster father, his
relationship with him wasnt a good one. We can see in the story his disgust with old men, or
certainly his failed relationship with an older man. The old man is murdered by the man.
Maybe he wanted to do this to his foster dad, because he didnt give him enough money for
courses at the University of Virginia, or because he wasnt mentioned in his will (n/n, 2014). It
is said that in the stories of Poe, we can find a lot of curious events, which he could have
made up while he was using opium or while he was drinking (Editors, n/a). The source of
(Whitley, 2000) said that there was a possibility the old man was a creature of the mans
imagination. We could also dedicate this to his use of opium. There is also a possibility that
he embraced the gothic style because he had many disappointments in his life. For example
the death of his wife, the many unappreciated works, the many different places where he
tried to be successful, to name a few (n/n, 2014). Maybe he couldnt see the positive things
in life anymore, and reflected this in his writing. This is only speculation, because there is
also the possibility of being attracted to this style. We can say the famous author Edgar
Allan Poe died in a way that corresponds with the way his books were:
mysterious.

Bibliography
Bowen, J. (2014, June 6). The Gothic. Retrieved from the British Library:
http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/videos/the-gothic
Dassin, J. (Director). (1941). The Tell-tale Heart (1941) [Motion Picture]. Retrieved from
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlTCXIJEj-c
Editors, B. (n/a). Edgar Allan Poe Biography. Retrieved from Biography:
http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160
Museum, C. w. (2014). Poe's Life. Retrieved from Poe Museum:
https://www.poemuseum.org/life.php
Phillips, A. D. (2007). The Grotesque of the Gothic: From Poe to the Present. Georgia:
University of Georgia.
Whitley, J. S. (2000). Introduction to the Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Ware: Wordsworth
Editions Limited.

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Sara Braeckevelt

2015