Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tale-Tell Heart" - Guilty or not guilty? The accountability of the protagonist (eBook)

Pre-University Paper from the year 2021 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, grade: 2, , language: English, abstract: Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" was published in 1834. It is a story of a murder who tells us how he acted out his plan. Through this, the narrator wants to convince us that he is not insane because " Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded". He insists that his plan was without passion. He only murders the old man because of his blue eye, after which he hides his body under the floorboards. Then three policemen show up. They were alerted through the scream of the old man. The narrator allows them in. He feels safe because of how well he hid the body. While he is talking to the three-man, he starts to hear the old man's heart beating through the floor. It grows louder and louder until he confesses the murder.

The first time I stumbled upon this story was trough a reading published online by the Poe Museum. Instantly I was hooked as it was not just a reading but also a discussion about the protagonist's accountability. I have read some American literature over the years, but the horror stories always engaged me the most. The difference between someone like H.P. Lovecraft, who writes fantastical and outer worlds stories, Poe's storys always seem more human, more natural. They were about people and what scared them at the time. It was not until some odd weeks later that when I thought about what I could choose as a topic for a term paper, I thought back to myself, this discussion would be fascinating to flash out even more, so, decided it was. Firstly, I will summaries Poe's life and the historical cases on which the story is based. Then, I will analyse the story, after which I will conclude if the protagonist is accountable or not.