There is darkness inside of everyone
waiting to devour them. The protagonist in the famous short story, “The
Tell-Tale Heart” demonstrates this well. The story was written in 1843 by Edgar
A. Poe. However, the piece was published in 1850, roughly three years after Poe
died. The story takes place in the house that the narrator and an old man live
in. The narrator, whom is never named, claims he is not insane because of how carefully
he plotted to kill the old man. He describes, in great detail, the steps he
took to the murder the innocent old man and the process of concealing the crime
after it was committed. Poe wrote “The Tell-Tale Heart” to illustrate the
darkness that exists within every person and the lengths they will go to hide
it.

The protagonist in this short tale is
in fact insane. The very definition of being insane is being “mentally deranged”
(Dictionary.com, n.d.). The narrator tells his side of the story claiming he is
sane throughout the entire piece. One of the first things he says is, “observe
how healthily—how calmly, I can tell you the whole story” (Poe, 2007, p. 279). He
uses rhetorical questions all through the story to convince the reader that he
is not crazy. It is evident that he, in fact, is trying to convince himself
that he is of sound mind. He goes to great lengths to prove his argument. This
quote demonstrates this point, “And now have I not told you that what you
mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses?” (p. 280). This is a
constant theme throughout the story. Another example is this quote, “You fancy
me mad…But you should have seen me” (p.279).
Poe stresses the word ‘me’ in italics because he wants to show how frantic the
narrator is to persuade the reader.

The protagonist becomes paranoid when
the image of the old man’s eye is introduced. 
The definition of paranoia is: “a mental disorder characterized by
systematized delusions and the projection of personal conflicts, which are
ascribed to the supposed hostility of others, sometimes progressing to
disturbances of consciousness and aggressive acts believed to be performed in
self-defense or as a mission” (Dictionary.com, n.d.). In this case, the main character experiences
paranoia as a projection of his personal conflicts and as a mission to rid
himself of the eye that bothers him. He profoundly states that “it is
impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived it
haunted me day and night.” (Poe, 2007, p. 279). This shows how his paranoia
grows into an obsession. He justifies this obsession by creating a mission to
end the old man’s life. His reasoning behind his mission is because “[when] it
fell upon [him, his] blood ran cold…[he] made up [his] mind to take the life of
the old man, and thus rid [himself] of the eye forever.” (p. 279). He feels
that if he completes this mission that the eye will not be able to haunt him
and that he can be at ease.

The old man’s eye may or may not be
real, but Poe uses the disfigurement as another representation of the darkness
everyone has. The eye therefore instills a sense of fear within the narrator
which leads to his obsession to get rid of it. It is natural for people to fear
the unknown or the grotesque, but the narrator takes it to extremes. When the narrator
is creeping into the old man’s room he finds that “the eye [is] always closed;
and so it was impossible to do the work” (Poe, 2007, p. 279). The importance of
the eye needing to be shown in order for the old man to be killed shows that
the darkness has to be seen in order to be despised. When the darkness is not
present, it does not pose as much of a threat and its existence can be
tolerated. Were it not for the eye, the narrator would have a better
relationship towards the old man. He had no malicious intentions towards the
old man himself as seen in this quote, “For it was not the old man who vexed
me, but his Evil Eye” (p. 279).

The narrator gives into his obsession
and begins to take the necessary steps to complete his mission. He sneaks into
the old man’s room for seven days rehearsing how he is going to kill the old
man in his head. He talks about how silent he is and then on the eighth day he
makes his move. When he gets close enough to hear the old man’s heart beat he
becomes more infuriated. Poe uses this simile to express how the narrator
feels, “it increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the solider
into courage” (Poe, 2007, p. 280).

When the narrator gives into his
obsession and murders the old man he expresses no grief. Despite the fact that
the narrator is irate, he “refrained and kept still” (Poe, 2007, p. 281). He
does not give into his obsession just yet. Instead he becomes nervous again
when the old man’s heartbeat increases. This theme of anxiety is first
introduced in the first line of the story. His anxiety takes him from “excited
[to]…uncontrollable terror” (p. 281). He stands still contemplating his next
move when he remembers that they have neighbors that could possibly hear the
deed about to unfold. He rashly leaps forward and drags the old man out of bed
and smothers him. From this he gets a satisfaction as he “smiled gaily, to find
the deed so far done” (p. 281). He feels immediate relief after killing the old
man, and does not experience grief. However, after the old man’s heart stops
beating he “placed [his] hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes”
(p. 281). Even though this might seem as an act of remorse, the evidence points
to it being merely him double checking to make sure the old man is dead.

After he confirmed that the deed is
done, the narrator has a sense of empowerment. With this newly found
confidence, he excitingly explains how masterfully he deposes of the body. The
body of the old man is mutilated, with all the blood being caught in a tub, and
then stowed under the floor planks in the chamber where the deed took place (Poe,
2007, p. 281). In telling the reader how carefully he fulfilled his plan, he is
still trying to convey his sanity. He answers a knock at the door and finds
three police officers, who he, now fully confident, invites in. He feels that
he has nothing more to fear, and that his obsession has been taken care of. He
shows them around the house with full certainty that they will not find
anything. This can be seen by how enthusiastically he explains how the events
unfold. He goes as far as to bring chairs into the room and set them upon the
very spot where the body was hidden (p. 281).

Poe demonstrates how the darkness of obsession
can lead to paranoia, as in this story. The confidence of the narrator about
how well he concealed his actions leads to him to begin questioning himself as
his conversation with the police carries on. This obsession materializes in the
story as he begins to hear the phantom heartbeat of the old man. This obsession
becomes paranoia has he begins to obsess about the heartbeat, which leads him
to make inquiries about what the police are truly saying. Their words become
clouded and muffled as he focuses more and more on the beating of the heart. He
starts to panic as the beating becomes so unbearable he loses all touch with
reality. This causes him to assume the police are mocking him and to prove, to
himself, he is not insane he demands they rip open the floor to prove that the
sound is real (Poe, 2007, p. 282).

Obsession is a darkness that can
destroy a person’s life. Poe uses “The Tell-Tale Heart” to expose how the
darkness in the main character is never truly satisfied. Even after he destroys
the vulture eye, he finds something new to obsess over. The new obsession with
the old man’s heartbeat causes him to lose his sanity by creating the phantom
heartbeat. This is despite him knowing that the old man’s life has ceased. He
attempts to hide this obsession by creating reasons to justify it. In the end
the darkness becomes his undoing when he refuses to face it and instead
attempts to appease it by giving in. Giving in to his darkness is only a short
term solution and later comes back stronger, leading him to actions he would
never have done in a sane state of mind.