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"The Tell-Tale Heart"

The narrator of the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe commits a murder, but the issue is whether this can be considered a willful murder or a case of diminished capacity. The insanity defense is a legal issue but involves psychiatric views. In analyzing the story, the views of two important forensic psychiatrists will be considered, one a proponent of the concept of insanity (Vastel), and the other an opponent of the concept (Szasz). An examination of the story in the light of these views shows that the narrator is sane and responsible for his actions at the time of the crime.

The narrator speaks directly to the reader in this story and explains his actions after the fact, and he begins by trying to put the reader's mind at rest about his sanity. The man says he is not insane, though there is no reason to take his word for this matter one way or the other. We would not accept his declaration that he was insane and would insist on an examination and a psychiatric opinion, so the fact that he says he is sane should be examined in the same manner. Indeed, the very manner in which the man declares his sanity raises questions about it:

The disease had sharpened my sense--not destroyed--not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? (Poe 125).

In declaring his sanity, the narrator makes reference to a number of widely prevalent ideas about the insane, showing that he is judging himself based first on popular conceptions of sanity and insanity such as would not be allowed in a courtroom anyway and such as would not rise to the level necessary for a diagnosis in a medical setting. He says, for instance, that madmen know nothing, so he cannot be considered mad because he behaved with great wisdom:

You should have seen how wisely I proceeded--with what caution--with what foresight--with what ...

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"The Tell-Tale Heart". (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:03, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1681758.html