Irrationality of Man in \"The

Irrationality of Man in "The Tell-Tale Heart"

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the most creative writers when it comes to expressing the irrationality of man. He does this by creating colorful narrators that pull us in with interesting dialogue and questionable actions. He emphasizes the irrational by placing readers into the mind of a man that thinks he is rational by all accounts. Readers want to believe the narrator is sane because he is human. Poe creates suspense by bring the narrator's irrationality into the story slowly. The narrator in this tales wants to be rational and we want to believe he is rational but as the story goes on, we realize we are dealing with a very unstable man. By the end of the tale, we are afraid for ourselves because we do not know the limits of our own minds. Poe uses the human mind to create suspense and, eventually, horror to entertain readers.

Poe amplifies fear in readers by putting them into the mind of the narrator. In "The Tell-tale Heart," we know the narrator's thoughts and we believe he is not crazy, mad, or irrational because he tells us he is not. We give him the benefit of the doubt because we want to believe him but also because he seems rational at the beginning of the story. In the beginning of the story, we find the narrator seems to have his senses together. He boasts about his mental acuity, saying, it "sharpened my senses -- not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute" (Poe 189). He is convinced that the things that make him appear irrational are making him smarter and sharper than usual. The power of the mind is pulled into question with interesting behavior.

Poe uses the very thing that makes his narrator seem rational to prove him irrational. It is the same dialogue but it changes as the story progresses. The narrator becomes more unstable the more he talks and this creates more drama for the reader. The narrator's motive for killing the old man is an "Evil Eye" (189), which is the first clue that something might be amiss with our narrator. This instability increases suspense as the story moves forward. Furthermore, the more we read, the more irrational this man becomes. When he says he hears the old man's beating heart, we know he is not playing with a full deck. When he watches the man sleep, the sounds of his breathing remind our narrator of a "groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief -- oh no! -- it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe" (190). Readers must confront the notion that the narrator is out of his mind and this changes the reading of the entire story.

The most compelling aspect of the story is the aspect of internal fear. Poe presents us with an irrational individual to highlight this kind of terror. Poe is a master at internal dialogue of the deranged and this narrator proves it. The mental drama that unfolds in our narrator's mind is chilling and it is enough to instill fear in us as we consider the possibility of this kind of individual. With him, Poe is feeding our fears and this is exactly what he intends to do. The mental anguish the narrator experiences as he watches the old man is exaggerated to make us consider what might be happening with him. As he determines it must be the man's extreme terror he is hearing it grows "louder, I say louder, every moment!" (191). Here, the narrator projects his conflict on the old man. The interesting thing here is that the narrator believes the old man senses death around the corner and is becomes afraid. Readers are surprised when the narrator kills him with ease and without fear. He does not hesitate nor does he waste time. He coolly maims the old man's body and the truly sickening aspect of the deed is that he seems to relish it. When he is finished, he exclaims, "Ha! ha!" (191), as if he has completed some honorary task worthy of an award. This act intensifies the story as readers realize this man is insane. Poe uses this irrationality to set the tone of the story. Fear and terror emerge from this one mind's mind and actions.