The Definition of Insanity in “The Tell-Tale Heart”

One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. This definition doesn’t merely place the character of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ on the fringe of insanity, but rather in the thick of madness. Throughout the story, his attributes of lunacy are demonstrated and amplified in his obsessive and repetitive actions. All of his actions lead back to this definite type of mania. He watches the old man in the same manner night after night, he perfectly cleans and hides evidence of the crime, and he handles increasing pressure from the police by intensifying his speaking instead of changing tactics.

The first illustration of this repetitive insanity comes from his actions leading up to the final killing. He states that “Every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it” and “I did this for seven long nights – every night just at midnight – but found the eye always closed; so it was impossible to do the work”. The subtleties of this could be overlooked, but this piece of the story is vital. He watched him night after night but did nothing because he didn’t see the situation he wanted. He took no action to rectify the position and set himself up to attack. A sane man would have acted after making the decision, but this man did not. He repeatedly watched the old man, expecting circumstances to change and provide him the motivation to kill him. His obsessive need without action leads to the conclusion of insanity.

Many crimes quickly fail due to careless mistakes. This is not the case with this short story. “No human eye – not even his – could have detected anything wrong”. The man’s obsessive impulses led him to perfectly hide the crime. “There was nothing to wash out – no stain of any kind – no blood-spot whatsoever,”; he obsessively cleaned up and hid the old man’s death. While a sane person may have performed this crime, it requires an all-consuming obsessive madness to execute it to the level the man does.

The final straw of this repetitive and obsessive mania is demonstrated in his handling of the police. When he begins to be overcome by guilt and anxiety, he states, “I no doubt now grew very pale – but talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased, and what could I do”. He had already been speaking with the police for some time, feeling “singularly at ease,” yet when things began crashing down, he continued as before. A sane and composed person would have realized the need for change, whereas this man did not. He intensified and repeated the action he was already doing.

While the complexities of the murderous character in this story may not be fully expressed, his reflective recounting of the event accentuates his insanity. This man is racked with obsessive and repetitive impulses that directly correlate with and lead to his madness. Unlike a sane person, he spends night after night watching the old man, expecting the situation to miraciously change instead of changing it himself. His obsessive nature leads to the impeccable, undetectable cleanup of the crime. Finally, his determination to remain unchanged in handling the police, despite indications of needing a new tactic, leads to his downfall. While most murderers live on the fringes of insanity, this man clearly lives in his own world of madness.

Did you like this example?

363

19