The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story that was written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in 1843. It tells a short story about the narrator who kills an old man and hides his dismembered body under the floorboards. It is considered as one the best Gothic fiction ...Read More
The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story that was written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in 1843. It tells a short story about the narrator who kills an old man and hides his dismembered body under the floorboards. It is considered as one the best Gothic fiction stories ever written. It gives a detailed and chilling narration of the narrator planned and executed a murder without any clear motive. Because it is one of Poe’s greatest works, students usually have to write work on The Tell-Tale Heart essay topics. Knowing how to start this essay can determine whether the essay will be a great one or not. Sample papers on The Tell-Tale Heart essay topics can be used to write an interesting outline of the introduction, body, and conclusion.
Hook Examples for "The Tell-Tale Heart" Essays
Opening Quote Hook
"True! Nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?" - Edgar Allan Poe, in his chilling tale, "The Tell-Tale Heart." This quote sets the eerie tone for our exploration of the narrator's descent into madness.
Character Analysis Hook
Enter the disturbed mind of the protagonist in "The Tell-Tale Heart." We'll dissect the intricate layers of his character, examining the psychological elements that drive him to commit an unthinkable act.
Setting Description Hook
Step into the old, dimly lit house where the events of "The Tell-Tale Heart" unfold. The setting itself becomes a character, shrouded in darkness and echoing with the beating heart of paranoia.
Mystery and Suspense Hook
Imagine a heartbeat, steadily growing louder, each thump intensifying the tension. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe masterfully weaves mystery and suspense into every paragraph. Let's uncover the secrets hidden within the story's pages.
Psychological Thriller Hook
Prepare yourself for a journey into the mind of madness. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is not just a story; it's a psychological thriller that explores the blurred lines between sanity and insanity.
Symbolism Hook
The "evil eye," a vulture-like eye, serves as a powerful symbol in Poe's tale. We'll delve into the symbolism behind this eye and its significance in the narrative.
Moral Dilemma Hook
Is the narrator justified in his actions, driven by an obsession with the old man's eye? Explore the moral and ethical dilemmas posed by "The Tell-Tale Heart," where right and wrong blur into madness.
Author's Influence Hook
Discover the life of Edgar Allan Poe and how his personal experiences may have influenced the creation of "The Tell-Tale Heart." The author's own struggles with mental health add depth to the story.
Comparative Analysis Hook
Compare "The Tell-Tale Heart" with other works by Edgar Allan Poe, such as "The Raven" or "The Fall of the House of Usher." Analyze common themes and literary techniques used by the author.
Legacy of Fear Hook
More than a century after its publication, "The Tell-Tale Heart" continues to haunt readers. Explore the lasting legacy of fear and fascination that this short story has left on the world of literature.
The Tell-Tale Heart is a story that is about a man that kill a person because of his fear of eye color, he always see him in the night, when he were going to kill him he wake up and start cry but the narrator...
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” delves into the intricate depths of the human psyche, raising questions about sanity and madness. The protagonist of the story, while outwardly appearing insane, presents a compelling case for his rationality, challenging conventional notions of mental health....
The Tell Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
Topics:
Guilt, Madness and Sanity, Murder and Death
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Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” serves as a haunting exploration of madness, guilt, and the human psyche. The story revolves around a narrator who commits murder yet insists upon his sanity. This essay argues that the narrator is not guilty by reason of insanity...
The “Tell Tale Heart” is a well-known short story that was written by Edgar Allan Poe. This story is one of the many examples that display his writings of death and misery as most of his stories are about. The main characters of the story...
Edgar Allan Poe
Literature Review
The Tell Tale Heart
There are stages for a human to lose control of themselves and descent into madness. Macbeth is a cautionary tale written by William Shakespeare in 1606. The Tell-Tale Heart is a short horror-fiction written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1843. These two texts explore the...
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” is told by a mentally unstable murder who is going insane and is trying to prove that he is completely normal. He does this by saying he has an immaculate sense of hearing, ‘I heard all things in the...
Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Tell-Tale Heart, presents an unsettling mediation on individual hubris through the Narrator’s moral ambiguity and inability to perceive the horror within his own “hideous heart”. As Poe strips the harrowing tale of extraneous details, his use of dramatic irony facilitates an...
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Literary Devices
The Tell Tale Heart
Introduction When you think about Edgar Allan Poe, words like “gothic” and “mysterious” probably come to mind. But there’s another aspect of his writing that often gets overshadowed by the chilling plots and dark characters: the musicality of his language. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” one...
Edgar Allan Poe
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The Tell Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” is one of those stories that sticks with you long after you’ve read it. It’s a tale about madness, murder, and the psychological unraveling of its narrator, who insists on their sanity while detailing the horrific act they committed....
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” is one of the most frequently analyzed pieces of literature in American history. This short story, first published in 1843, dives deep into the psyche of its unreliable narrator, who insists on his sanity while recounting the events leading...
The Tell Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
Literary Criticism
Death has always been a captivating and haunting theme in literature, evoking a wide range of emotions and thoughts. Two renowned writers who skillfully explored the concept of death in their works are Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson. Poe, known for his dark and...
Edgar Allan Poe is renowned for his mastery of gothic literature, and one of his most famous short stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” exemplifies his skillful use of repetition. Through the deliberate repetition of certain words and phrases, Poe creates a sense of tension, emphasizes key...
Like many of Poe’s other works, the Tell-tale Heart is a gloomy and mysterious story. This one focuses on the events causing the murder of an old man and what happend afterwards. That’s the basics of it, but there are many deep meanings hidden in...
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The Tell Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
Literary Devices
Topics:
Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic fiction, Guilt, Madness and Sanity, Murder and Death, Short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe, the son of actor and actress David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Poe, was born in 1809 on the 19th of January. Just before the age of three Poe had lost his parents, and lived most of his life with Frances and John...
Hook Examples for “The Tell-Tale Heart” Essay An Eerie Opening: Picture a dimly lit room, a vengeful heart, and the relentless sound of a heartbeat. Join me as we descend into the chilling world of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” to unravel the depths...
Edgar Allan Poe creates his horror within the cusp of American literature by representing a unique approach to the human mind and original portraits of unreliable narrator. Murderer or madman? Madness or an elaborate plan? These two questions are addressed in the short story The...
Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Telltale Heart” During the creation of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous short story “The Telltale Heart”, he uses several different elements to weave us the reader a thrilling page turner. He uses the elements of setting, tone in which he...
The Tell Tale Heart
Topics:
Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic fiction, Guilt, Madness and Sanity, Murder and Death, Short story, The Tell-Tale Heart
Tale Heart Poe writes “The Tell Tale Heart” from the perspective of the murderer of the old man. When an author creates a situation where the central character tells his own account, the overall impact of the story is heightened. The narrator, in this story,...
The Tell Tale Heart
Topics:
1990s music groups, English-language films, Eye, Fiction, First person, First-person narrative, Grammatical person, London, Madness, Madness and Sanity
Throughout many texts Edgar Allen Poe has shown that he is afraid of those who are mentally insane yet truly believe that they are rational, reasonable people. While reading the short stories “Berenice” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” you can see his fears come through in...
Overwhelming obsession and guilt often lead to deadly consequences. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat,” Edgar Allan Poe presents us with two men who each commit brutal murders motivated by overwhelming obsession. The narrators differ in their dispositions but fall victim to the...
Edgar Allan Poe
Short Story
The Black Cat
The Tell Tale Heart
Topics:
Anxiety, Compassion, Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic fiction, Guilt, Insanity, James Russell Lowell, Love, Madness and Sanity, Marv Wolfman
The Tell-tale Heart is probably the most iconic short story of American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The story is either approached simplistically as a horror story, encompassing some paranormal features, or, from a more modernist perspective, as a complex psychological portrait of a disturbed unnamed...
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Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne are best known for their techniques being very similar to one another. They both specialize in American Gothic Genre, they both specialize in horror and mystery. They both wrote about humanities dark side and the evil within humanity. Gothic...
Both The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher are great examples of how Edgar Allan Poe, an American writer born in 1809, uses the first person narration style of writing. When reading both short stories, it is very clear that the...
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Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, is a short story focusing on a mentally deranged soul that ultimately murders an innocent man due to the narrator’s obsession with his “evil eye”. Poe’s story is unique and many wonder why his stories have such a dark...
The literary element of mood portrays the atmosphere of the work through its words and descriptions in order to create an emotional response within the reader. This allows the reader to develop an emotional attachment and interest in the story, as well as to better...
Two completely different stories with many character similarities and differences are “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Edgar Allan Poe’s main character has a mental illness that won’t let him see or admit that he is deranged and Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells a story...
The Tell Tale Heart
Character
The Yellow Wallpaper
Topics:
Character, Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic fiction, Protagonist, Short story
The Narrator, The Old Man, the 3 Policemen, a neighbor
Based on
Inspired by the murder of Joseph White of Salem, Massachusetts.
Symbols/motives
Murder, horror, fear, criminal. The symbols also include The Eye, which represents an awareness, The Heart stands for intelligence, the Blue Eyes as the listener, and the House, which is the sense of guilt.
Influence
It is a classic horror story that tells about illustration, effective composition, and the power of the short story. It is also an example of confession and the state of madness. In a certain sense, it can be disputed regarding the sanity of the main protagonist, which even makes this short story even more influential.
Plot
The short story revolves around the man who wants to murder another person, yet strives for not getting caught or punished. It is the story of the perfect crime that fails. The killer in the story is never seen, yet only felt. It tells about the deranged border agent who wants to kill the landlord but not because of money or greed. It has a complex psychology dealing with the "evil eye", which also stands for the truth.
Interesting facts
It is unclear whether the old man is the father figure since we do not know if he and the killer are related.
This short story is considered a classic example of the Gothic fiction genre.
The reason behind this story's popularity is a great hook when a man confesses about planning a murder.
The story has not been considered a success when it has been first published.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been particularly inspired by this story's writing style.
The Poe himself called his psychological torment style an "Arabesque".
The Tell-Tale heart also symbolizes the complex relationship between the guilt and innocence.
Quotes
"It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night."
"Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work!"
"And this I did for seven long nights—every night just at midnight—but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye."
"It was open—wide, wide open—and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness—all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot."
"Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!—this I thought, and this I think."
Why is this topic important
It is the madness and the fear of punishment. The short story goes quite deep in terms of things that take place inside the criminal's mind, which is why it is a great analytical literary example. One can assume that we talk about disorganized schizophrenia, speaking of a mental disease.
Why should this topic be used
Since it has been one of the most popular criminal stories to ever grace the literary works written in English, this short story can be used as the essay topic dealing with the guilt, innocence, planning something bad, finding punishment, and seeking attention. It can also be used as the allegory for prejudice and anger. It is read in high school and colleges because it also has a great composition and suspense structure.
What is the conclusion?
The conclusion tells about complete insanity of the narrator as the description of the murder in detail is represented. The moral lesson is that one cannot hide from one's conscience.
References
1. Robinson, E. A. (1965). Poe's" The Tell-Tale Heart". Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 19(4), 369-378. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2932876)
2. Shen, D. (2008). Edgar Allan Poe's Aesthetic Theory, the Insanity Debate, and the Ethically Oriented Dynamics of “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Nineteenth-Century Literature, 63(3), 321-345. (https://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article/63/3/321/67842/Edgar-Allan-Poe-s-Aesthetic-Theory-the-Insanity)
3. Pritchard, H. (2003). Poe's the Tell-Tale Heart. The Explicator, 61(3), 144-147. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00144940309597787?journalCode=vexp20)
4. Person, L. S. (2008). Queer Poe: The tell-tale heart of his fiction. Poe Studies, 41(1), 7-30. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/509582/summary)
5. Toikkanen, J. (2017). Auditory Images in Edgar Allan Poe's “The Tell-Tale Heart”. The Edgar Allan Poe Review, 18(1), 39-53. (https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/edgar-allan-poe/article-abstract/18/1/39/200624/Auditory-Images-in-Edgar-Allan-Poe-s-The-Tell-Tale)
6. Pitcher, E. W. (1979). The Physiognomical Meaning of Poe's" The Tell-Tale Heart". Studies in Short Fiction, 16(3), 231. (https://www.proquest.com/docview/1297934226?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true)
7. Bynum, P. M. (1989). Observe How Healthily—How Calmly I Can Tell You the Whole Story”: Moral Insanity and Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart. Literature and Science as Modes of Expression, 141-152. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-2297-6_8)
8. Alsahafi, M. (2020). A Narrative Discourse Analysis of Poe's Short Story" The Tell-Tale Heart": Implications for Language Teaching. English Language Teaching, 13(1), 1-17. (https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1239146)
