My Thoughts
Classic Poe! The Tell-Tale Heart is probably the epitome of Poeism (if that isn't a word, it is now), perhaps only outdone by The Raven. The story's protagonist is an obviously mad character that thinks of himself as anything but. It seems that most people who are truly mad share this sentiment. This odd character decides to kill the old man that he lives with because of the old man's repulsive "vulture-like" eye. While this may seem petty and a tell-tale sign of a psychopath, the protagonist relishes in how clever he was in doing it.
Taking an hour to slowly creep his head into the old man's room just o peer at him? Clever. Opening an enclosed lantern just enough to shine a sliver of light upon the old man's vulture eye? Absolutely brilliant! Doing this every day for a week? The icing on top!
The story deals with instability in mental processing and also, some say, a guilt-ridden conscious, though I don't quite share this common opinion. The main character is obviously unstable, and a conscious isn't something I believe he had. I believe the sounds that finally drove him to confession was simply part of his psychosis. Whether the police were present or not, it would have been heard and it would have driven him crazy.
My Rating
I rate this short story a 4.5 out of 5. This story is very short but every line is brilliant in it's depiction of psychosis.
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