final assignments

Surname 3

Negar Tabrizi

Professor: Ashley Paul

LIT-203-WB1

The Effects of a Guilty Conscience in “The Tell-Tale Heart”

“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a short story on a murder committed by the narrator on his master. The narrator is an insane person who narrates on how he managed to kill his master, an old man, and how eventually got caught. He is filled with paranoia and anxiousness which makes him unreliable. In the narration, we find out that the narrator is the one who got himself captured. He had managed to cover all his tracks and had even convinced the police that nothing was wrong. However, he believed they may have noticed and a disturbing sound kept ringing in his mind made him tell them about his crime. Edgar Allan Poe uses the narration in the story to show the effects of a guilty conscience on a person. Guild drove the narrator mad, made him get caught, and left him with a heavy burden.

A guilty conscience has the power to do many things on a person’s mind, and to the narrator, it drove him mad. In the beginning of the story, the narrator confirms this status by showing that the people that he is with think that he is mad. He claims only to be anxious and nervous, but through the tale we can indeed that he is crazy. His craziness, however, can be credited to his guilty conscience. The onslaught of his madness only came after he had killed the old man. It was then that he started hearing a sharp noise, and feeling anxious. The narrator had no problem killing his master, but after killing him, it is when he started questioning himself. He even refers to the old man as a good person. This shows how guilt, even in our normal lives can stick to our conscience. The ringing sound in his head could be the striking questions we ask ourselves when we feel like we have wronged someone.

A guilty conscience is also what made the narrator to get caught. He had cleverly hidden all indicators to his murder. His alibi checked out and when the police came to his home, he was able to convince them that his master had travelled. However, unprovoked, he confesses to the murder of his master. This is because all was in his mind was that the police already knew and they were just mocking him before they could make an arrest. Moreover, the sharp noise in his head caused him too much unrest that he felt that he must confess to his great crime. It is as if he literally wanted to be caught hoping it would help him escape the torture of the ‘noises in his head,’ presumably guilt. The guilt drove him to a corner to confess.

Guilt gave the narrator a heavy burden that he couldn’t live with. The burden of his guilt was too strong that he didn’t even make it through the night before it took his toll. From his point of narration, it is evident that even after his capture he has a burden on his soul. “[…] very dreadfully nervous I had been and am.” The narrator’s conscience is in a bad place and he even questions his intention for murder. Even though he felt peaceful after killing his master and cleaning up every spot of evidence, after a while he felt uneasy. “[…] I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased.” His guilt could not let him be at peace anymore.

The narrator, felt that it was absolutely necessary that he killed the old man. He was enraged by his “vulture eyes.” He was very disgusted by the gaze the old man gave him. It seems that the gaze that the boss gave him made him fearful of the boss. In his conscience at that moment, he had to kill his boss. He reveals that he loved the old man; having never been insulted by him, been wronged by him and he did not have any desire for his gold. He only wanted to get rid of the old man’s blue-like vulture gaze.

Once he had made up his mind, he felt like there was no turning back. He made a plan on how he would secretly kill the old man and cover his tracks. He was very cautions and stealthy in executing his whole plan. He acted more kindly to the old man during that week in which he killed him so that he may not suspect a thing. For eight nights, the narrator did something to test and contribute to his murder plan. He made the plan full proof, in a manner in which he could not get caught. Only for his conscience to catch up with him later.

The same effects of a guilty conscience can take part in our lives. They may not be as grave, but they surely can come close. The narrator had no legitimate reason to kill his master and it drove him crazy. Poe also shows us that owning up to the mistakes we have made may be the best resolve. Though it may not fully reserve us from our guilt, it may feel much better. A guilty conscience can be adverse and lead to a severe mental breakdown. Guilt is a bad feeling, the only solution being to refrain from doing wrong to the people who do not deserve it.

Works Cited

Harper, Benjamin, and Dennis Calero. Tell-tale Heart. , 2013. Print.