Madness is frequently predisposed by point-of-view. Edgar Allan Poe employs this to implant fear and suspense into his reader’s minds. In "The Tell-Tale Heart", he turns the story into encouraging the reader to assume they are the speaker. Undeniably, this is division of what makes the story so terrifying.
I believe that the point-of-view is what controls the plot. Whilst the reader in general imagines the narrator to be the Edgar Poe, one has no knowledge of the speaker. Personally, I always considered the speaker male however, when I saw The Tell-Tale Heart performed, it had a woman character. Looking carefully at the book, one can perceive the feminine touch through the character’s words and actions. I believe this also aids with the tone, especially in terms of the story’s pace and the linguistics pauses. For instance, the narrator assumes an extremely calm and composed approach when preparing for the old man’s murder, and executes it with intense patience and intricacy. Speech (the woman) is hastened and intermittent. One feels as if he is seeing the woman’s hand tenderness when she peers through the door and sees the man sleep.
Consequently, the point-of-view not only matters, but also the manner in which one envisages the character itself. I am confident that everyone who reads the book perceives it differently as I did when I changed the character from male to female.
The situation would have been different if second or third person was used. First person point-of-you permits one to connect with the speaker on a profounder level. In addition, when the narrative is psychological, it is imperative to be capable of jumping into the mind of the disturbed. This helps comprehend their intention and manner of thinking. For example, it permits the reader to empathize with them therefore, making judgments on the situation.
In addition, I think the character is reliable in the murder account. There are sanity vs. insanity issues as related to the protagonist. However, I believe that are inclining towards her own views of herself. The reader certainly thinks she is mad since she murdered the old man, and then hears voices that strike fixation and fear into her mind. However, I will argue that the character is sane to prove reliability. I assume that the heaven and hell voices she heard were her conscious attempting to bribe her one way. In my opinion, she was aware of what she was doing. She practiced it numerous times earlier with the reliability and obstinacy of a composed and sensible individual. I do not believe that she was mad, but she was clever, and menacing with the brain of a fanatic. She was extremely sane and reliable in her narration.
This makes the book so appalling. She is not frightened to repeat every unpleasant element of that night. In addition, she is conceited of what she has done.
Point Of View The Tell Tale Heart Research Paper Example
Type of paper: Research Paper
Topic: Psychology, Women, Books, Crime, Character, Edgar Allan Poe, Literature, The Reader
Pages: 2
Words: 500
Published: 12/15/2019
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