literature assignments

Surname 4

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 manages to cover all his tracks and even convinces the police that nothing is wrong. However, he believed they have noticed and a disturbing sound keeps ringing in his mind makes 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. Guilt drives the narrator mad, makes him get caught, and leaves 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 drives 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. “[…] I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?” He claims only to be anxious and nervous, but through the tale we can indeed see that he is crazy. His craziness, however, can be credited to his guilty conscience. The onslaught of his madness only came after he had kills the old man. It is then that he starts hearing a sharp noise, and feeling anxious. The narrator has no problem killing his master, but after killing him, it is when he starts 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 makes the narrator to get caught. He had cleverly hides all indicators to his murder. His alibi checks out and when the police come to his home, he is able to convince them that his master had travelled. However, unprovoked, he confesses to the murder of his master. This is because all that is in his mind is that the police already knows and they were just mocking him before they could make an arrest. “[…] --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think.” Moreover, the sharp noise in his head causes him too much unrest that he feels that he must confess to his great crime. It is as if he literally wants to be caught hoping it helps him escape the torture of the ‘noises in his head,’ presumably guilt. The guilt drives him to a corner to confess.

Guilt gives the narrator a heavy burden that he can’t live with. The burden of his guilt is too strong that he doesn’t even make it through the night before it takes its 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 feels 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, feels that it was absolutely necessary that he kills the old man. He was enraged by his “vulture eyes.” He is very disgusted by the gaze the old man gives 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 wants to get rid of the old man’s blue-like vulture gaze.

Once he made up his mind, he felt like there was no turning back. He makes a plan on how he will secretly kill the old man and cover his tracks. He is very cautions and stealthy in executing his whole plan. He acts more kindly to the old man during that week in which he kills 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 makes the plan full proof, in a manner in which he cannot 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. The narrator is driven mad, confesses to his crime and carries a heavy burden. 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.