Kawa i fantastyka

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Edgar Allan Poe is an American writer, poet and literary critic, usually regarded as the father of detective fiction and one of the most notable authors of horrors. His works are very frequently divided by scholars into two groups – mystery and macabre tales. „Tell-tale Heart” is an example of the second kind, alongside with such short stories as „The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”, „Berenice” or „The Fall of the House of Usher”.

The short story has first person narration which takes the point of view of the villain. Such perspective is quite unusual but nevertheless consistent with Edgar Allan Poe’s fascination with mentally unstable, neurotic characters often haunted by past events such as a murder or tragic death. Probably the most famous figure from Poe’s works which apply to this description is Roderick Usher from already mentioned “The Fall of the House of Usher”. One of things that bring together both pieces is an acute anxiety and extreme sensitivity which lead the characters to insanity. The narrator of “Tell-tale Heart” says at the beginning: “The disease had sharpened my senses –not destroyed –not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute.” The reason for such disorder is the sense of guilt. Both Roderick Usher and the narrator of “Tell-tale Heart” have committed unforgettable deeds – Roderick has entombed his cataleptic sister before she really died and the main character from “Tell-tale Heart” has murdered his old neighbour. Even though the narrator seems to be hearing things that he normally by no means would be able to perceive, he is certain of his sanity and claims that he can control himself and speak without agitation (“how calmly I can tell you the whole story”). Nevertheless the reader stays convinced that the murderer is truly insane for the reason that only mentally ill person could possibly kill another man merely because he has
a strange-looking eye (“He had the eye of a vulture –a pale blue eye, with a film over it”). The narrator explicitly points that the readers might consider him insane “You fancy me mad” and then tries to prove that it is not true (“You should have seen how wisely I proceeded” and later “Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this”). It seems that Edgar Allan Poe makes his character provide evidence for his sanity to strengthen the sense of terror. He tries to suggest to the reader that maybe there was something supernatural going on in the tale that made the murderer hear the sound of a beating heart. It is consistent with the genre of the tale, which is considered to be a horror story. Nevertheless, Edgar Allan Poe does not points explicitly the supernatural nature of the sound, which stays in question till the end of the story. The resolution itself points to more rational explanation, as it reveals the author’s intention to describe the concept of delusions caused by sense of guilt and leading to confession.

Regardless to what the narrator says about his sanity, there are many hints incorporated to the work by Edgar Allan Poe that suggest that he is truly insane. First of all, while telling his story, the speaker uses a lot of exclamations which show his anxiety. Typical examples are repetitions of phrases or clauses with such words like “ha!” or “oh!” at the beginning (“yes, it was this!” or “oh, so cautiously”) and other repetitions and parallels (“with what caution –with what foresight –with what dissimulation” or “I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily”). Exclamation are even more frequent at the end of the story, where almost every clause finishes with
an exclamation mark, revealing narrator’s growing nervousness, with a climax
of the last cry, being the very confession of committing the crime. What is more,
the narrator uses exaggeration, by which again his emotions are easily perceivable. When he talks about the sound he heard in the old man’s room, he describes it
as “the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe”. Finally, the more acute is the anxiety of the narrator, the shorter are the sentences. It is enough to compare an excerpt from his speech about the night of the murder, when he talks with proud about his wisdom and wiliness: “Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers –of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph.”; with an example of an utterance from the end of the short story: “Oh God! what could I do? I foamed –I raved –I swore!”.

All these devices used by the author to suggest that the narrator has become insane also make the confession very lively, emphasizing the murderer’s emotions. Edgar Allan Poe managed to make the narration seem natural and at the same time keep the tension and make it develop continuously to the final, climatic exclamation which at the same time constitutes the very acknowledgment of guilt.

Generally, “Tell-tale Heart” explores the theme of the sense of guilt and its influence on people. The sound of old man’s beating heart belongs to the sphere of fantasy and can be regarded as nothing more than a sign of narrator’s insanity. His delusions are clearly caused by the pangs of conscience after committing the murder and the police officers’ presence makes the narrator’s anxiety even more severe, finally pushing him into confession. Edgar Allan Poe tried to explore the mind of a murderer. The author indicates that although the hero of the short story has presented himself as a confident, wise and strong individual, his mind collapses and falls into insanity.  There are some suggestions that even before the deed the narrator was mentally unstable, namely the very reason for the murder (as he puts it: “it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye”) and the strange delight the man felt during the preparations (“Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers –of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph.”). Nevertheless, the murder made the syndromes of mental illness more acute. By employing  first person narration and through the successful use of the stylistic devices mentioned in the second paragraph, Edgar Allan Poe offers to the reader an opportunity to experience this increase and, speaking metaphorically, enter the mind of a criminal.

In his “Tell-tale Heart”, a story of a murderer whose sense of guilt leads him into insanity and force to confess his deed, Edgar Allan Poe proves that even a short text can convey an interesting plot and catch the reader’s attention. Its significance lays in the construction of the main character. By means of stylistic devices, the author manages to realistically present the state of mind of an insane criminal, making his speech seem natural and believable.  “Tell-tale Heart”, in contrast to its less significant length, is a noteworthy example of a powerful narrative which can easily be cited together with such well-known Poe’s short stories as “Berenice” or “The Fall of the House of Usher”.

Tags: E. A. Poe, groza, klasyka, USA

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