The Protagonist’s Insanity and Unreliable Narration in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”

The Protagonist’s Insanity and Unreliable Narration in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” PDF Author: Alexander Lauer
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668942129
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 17

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Tubingen (Englisches Seminar), course: Proseminar I: Introduction to Literary Studies, language: English, abstract: Edgar Allan Poe published his short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" in 1843 when there was an ongoing discussion about the insanity defence in the United States. The notion of "moral insanity" or "partial insanity" was proposed, being a type of insanity that twists a person’s moral faculties only, not their intellect. This new legal definition of insanity made it possible to exculpate those who had committed a crime in a rationally planned way but were unable to comprehend its moral depravity. In this paper, the terms "insanity" and "madness" are used with respect to the protagonist of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and are presupposed to refer to the idea of moral or partial insanity. The quintessence of the arguments put forward is that the reader’s belief in the protagonist’s insanity is created by unreliable and subjective narration. To begin with, the narrative situation of the story is analysed by applying different established categories of narratology and by identifying the narrator as unreliable. Then, the narrator’s unreliability is interpreted with regard to his intention of wanting to appear sane, his subjectivity caused by that intention, and his unconsciously conveyed insanity.

The Protagonist’s Insanity and Unreliable Narration in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”

The Protagonist’s Insanity and Unreliable Narration in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” PDF Author: Alexander Lauer
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668942129
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 17

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Tubingen (Englisches Seminar), course: Proseminar I: Introduction to Literary Studies, language: English, abstract: Edgar Allan Poe published his short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" in 1843 when there was an ongoing discussion about the insanity defence in the United States. The notion of "moral insanity" or "partial insanity" was proposed, being a type of insanity that twists a person’s moral faculties only, not their intellect. This new legal definition of insanity made it possible to exculpate those who had committed a crime in a rationally planned way but were unable to comprehend its moral depravity. In this paper, the terms "insanity" and "madness" are used with respect to the protagonist of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and are presupposed to refer to the idea of moral or partial insanity. The quintessence of the arguments put forward is that the reader’s belief in the protagonist’s insanity is created by unreliable and subjective narration. To begin with, the narrative situation of the story is analysed by applying different established categories of narratology and by identifying the narrator as unreliable. Then, the narrator’s unreliability is interpreted with regard to his intention of wanting to appear sane, his subjectivity caused by that intention, and his unconsciously conveyed insanity.

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart PDF Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher: SAMPI Books
ISBN: 656133115X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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Book Description
In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", the narrator tries to prove his sanity after murdering an elderly man because of his "vulture eye". His growing guilt leads him to hear the old man's heart beating under the floorboards, which drives him to confess the crime to the police.

The Transcendentalists

The Transcendentalists PDF Author: Barbara L. Packer
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 9780820329581
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Barbara L. Packer's long essay "The Transcendentalists" is widely acknowledged by scholars of nineteenth-century American literary history as the best-written, most comprehensive treatment to date of Transcendentalism. Previously existing only as part of a volume in the magisterial Cambridge History of American Literature, it will now be available for the first time in a stand-alone edition. Packer presents Transcendentalism as a living movement, evolving out of such origins as New England Unitarianism and finding early inspiration in European Romanticism. Transcendentalism changed religious beliefs, philosophical ideas, literary styles, and political allegiances. In addition, it was a social movement whose members collaborated on projects and formed close personal ties. Transcendentalism contains vigorous thought and expression throughout, says Packer; only a study of the entire movement can explain its continuing sway over American thought. Through fresh readings of both the essential Transcendentalist texts and the best current scholarship, Packer conveys the movement's genuine expectations that its radical spirituality not only would lead to personal perfection but also would inspire solutions to such national problems as slavery and disfranchisement. Here is Transcendentalism in whole, with Emerson, Thoreau, and Fuller restored to their place alongside such contemporaries as Bronson Alcott, George Ripley, Jones Very, Theodore Parker, James Freeman Clarke, Orestes Brownson, and Frederick Henry Hedge.

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart PDF Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486847977
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Ten tantalizing tales include "The Fall of the House of Usher," "William Wilson," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Purloined Letter," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," more.

The Cask of Amontillado (一桶阿蒙蒂亞度酒)

The Cask of Amontillado (一桶阿蒙蒂亞度酒) PDF Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher: Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 131

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Book Description


The Black Cat

The Black Cat PDF Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher: SAMPI Books
ISBN: 658593413X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" is a short story that explores themes of guilt and perversity. The narrator, haunted by cruelty to his black cat and acts of domestic violence, is consumed by paranoia and madness. His attempt to conceal a crime leads to his own disgrace.

Berenice

Berenice PDF Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher: SAMPI Books
ISBN: 6585934067
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 18

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Book Description
"Berenice" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, centered on obsession and horror. The story follows Egaeus, a man tormented by obsessive thoughts, and his cousin Berenice, who suffers from a mysterious illness. The narrative unfolds around Egaeus' morbid fixation on Berenice's teeth, culminating in a macabre and disturbing outcome that reveals the depth of his obsession.

The narrative situation in Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". An illustration of the captivating effect

The narrative situation in Poe's Author: Kaja Schlothauer
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 334640675X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 6

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2020 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Hamburg, language: English, abstract: This paper focuses on the captivating effect of the autodiegetic narration and which significant differences would occur throughout "The Tell-Tale Heart", if the narrator would be outside the diegesis, not a part of the story world (also called heterodiegetic narration). Therefore, the beginning starts with a closer interpretation of the narrator’s character and their motives to plan the crime. Furthermore, the historical and literary context of The Tell-Tale Heart contributes to the argumentation. Followed by the context, the term paper includes a brief analysis of mad narrators in fiction. All arguments contain the information of several secondary sources. The conclusion provides an overview over the crucial arguments made in the main body of the paper and ultimately combines the interpretations in a final statement. The narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart is perhaps the most striking feature of the short story. Although the protagonist declares his sanity right in the beginning of the story, the reader before long learns about the evident mental illness of the narrator. After all, their insanity and madness result in the murder of the old man. It is the feeling of paranoia, surveillance and nervousness that ultimately leads to the crime. The protagonist, however, evidently cannot be trusted and appears more and more unreliable. So what is merely imagination and what is truly genuine in The Tell-Tale Heart?

Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe

Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe PDF Author: Dawn B. Sova
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438108427
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
Examines the life and career of Edgar Allan Poe including synopses of many of his works, biographies of family and friends, a discussion of Poe's influence on other writers, and places that influenced his writing.

The Assignation

The Assignation PDF Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher: SAMPI Books
ISBN: 6561331818
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description
In "The Assignation", Edgar Allan Poe tells the tragic story of an illicit love affair in Venice between a young man and the Marchesa Aphrodite. A heroic rescue leads to revelations of passion and despair, culminating in death and suicide under a veil of mystery and decadent beauty.