"The Tell-Tale Heart" - E.A. Poe

"The Tell-Tale Heart" - E.A. Poe

1. beginning: in medias res,no exposition

   • narrator wants to convince the reader that she's/he's not mad
   • no names,no information on setting of the story
   • no reasons given for the protagonist/narrator living in old man's house
   • old man:apparently rich and scared of robbers
     • protagonist's obsession with evil eye of old man
       • evil eye / I ?

2. Style

   • narrator establishing complicity with audience "But you should have seen /me/. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded..."
   • affirmation of sanity vs. obsessive behaviour: "And now- have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is over acuteness of the senses?
   • manic diction (interjections; exclamation marks)
     • modern diagnosis: paranoid schizophrenia
   • Poe's ideal: unity of effect/impression