Début d'analyse littéraire The Tell-Tale Heart

The Evolution of Madness in The Tell-Tale Heart

Aristotle, one of the most honoured philosophers of Ancient Greek, once said: “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness”. To put it in another way, insanity lives in every single one of us including those you may refer as “good” people. In fact, what makes people go mad and brings them to behave in unacceptable manners are the elements of stress like violence and abuse which directly affects the brain. However, the human mind is so powerful and so complex, that it becomes almost impossible to understand what pushes a mental ill person to act. In the short story The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, the main character becomes more and more insane as the story keeps building.

First of all, the element of setting contributes in showing the madness of the main character. By not giving many details about the setting, the narrator leaves the readers in suspense. In fact, all we know is that the action takes place in an old house probably located in a bad neighbourhood (since the old man fears robbers). However, the narrator uses the simile “as black as pitch with the thick darkness” to describe the room. By bringing out the element of darkness of the room, the readers can relate with the old man’s fear. That being said, by knowing that the narrator is spying on the unaware old man in the dark reinforces the idea of him being mentally ill. Secondly, the fact that most of the action happens at night sets a horrifying mood. Actually, the madmen went to the old man’s room to murder him for seven consecutive nights and could not do it because he did not see his Evil eye. Truly, this demonstrates

, the elements of setting and point of view show the growing madness of the main character throughout the story.

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