The Tell Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe - 1104 Words

â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† by Edgar Allan Poe is an erratic Gothic story told from the point of view of a narrator who speaks directly and passionately to the audience, engaging with them and challenging their views though the use of literary techniques. Poe’s personal context, which includes his depressing upbringing and later being shunned by those who closest to him (including his foster father) is reflected heavily in the text. This makes it easier for the audience to relate to the narrator’s character, and to thus experience discovery through the text by connecting with it on a personal level, showing how discoveries can vary according to personal context. Poe allows his audience to experience discovery by both disrupting and distorting†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The disease has sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not dulled them†. Poe’s use of truncated sentences represents the characters disjointed state of mind by creating a sense of urgency and increasing tension, causing the audience to question whether or not this unknown author is in fact reliable. This insanity is further exemplified when the narrator attempts to justify himself to the listener, concerning the motif behind why he must kill the old man. â€Å"he had the eye of a vulture†. It is in the nature of the vulture to diligently scavenge the remains of dead animals, feasting on their carcasses. It is possible that this could be representative of the narrator’s mental deterioration, as the ‘vulture’ is preying on him. The vulture’s eye is symbolic of a window leading directly into the mind and soul of the narrator, which encompasses his deepest fears and violent plans, which in turn conveys the distorted out look he has on the world. The eye also represents the ability the truth has to make itself known, which foreshadows that the actions of the speaker will eventually come to light. This concept is confronting and provocative for the audience, as his inadequate justification for committing the crime further reveals glimpses of his insan ity. Hence, the audience is invited to make discoveries about how the human mind works in strange ways, and will try to find an excuse to justify why humans have the capacity to commit such