The Tell-Tale Heart
by
Edgar Allan Poe
Facts About Edgar Allan Poe
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Edgar Allan Poe was born to
David and Eliza Poe on January
19th of 1809. Eliza Poe was an
actress.
In 1810, Poe's father abandoned
his family and shortly after, Poe's
mother died of tuberculosis. Poe
was orphaned to the home of
John Allan, where he then
adopted the name Allan.
Poe married his 13 year old first
cousin, Virginia Clemm, on
September 22nd of 1835.
Virginia's early death led to some
of his most famous works.
Poe died on October 7th of 1849
Summary of The-Tale Heart
The Tell-Tale Heart is a story of the perfect murder or so the
unnamed narrator thought when he committed it. The
narrator of the story is confessing to his murder of an old
man, whom he was caring for. Throughout the entire
story, the narrator is terribly worried that people will think
him mad and tries to dissuade the recipient of his tale of
the assessment that he is mad. The narrator begins his
tale by saying why he committed the murder. It had not
been his original plan to commit the murder but he tells of
how the old man's “vulture eye,” of which the narrator was
terrified of, was the reason that he did it. He tells of how
he was very cautious and watched the man for sevem
nights and was careful not to make any sound. Upon the
eighth night, though, is when he killed the old man. The
police come after there had been a call from a neighbor
regarding them hearing a shriek. The narrator is very
Analysis of The Tell-Tale Heart
In an article, by Magdalen Wing-chi Ki, which pertains
to The Tell-Tale Heart and other works by Edgar Allan
Poe, Wing-chi Ki describes how Poe uses the EgoEvil in his stories as well as the Superego-Evil. The
Ego-Evil consists of the elevation of self-love and the
Superego-Evil consists of fanatical devotion. These
play a key role in this story because of the narrator
displaying his own need before that of the innocent
old man. His need to rid himself of the evil eye is
what makes it so that he is able to commit the
murder. Wing-chi Ki also describes how Poe's
characters are aware of the difference between right
and wrong but remain oblivious to their own sins, just
as the narrator does in The Tell-Tale Heart. Wing-chi
Key Components Within The TellTale Heart
The most important component within the
story is the act of murder. This is most
important component of the story because
without the murder there would be no story.
The next most important component is the
narrator's madness. Without the narrator's
madness, there would never have been a
murder committed. His madness is
evident within the first paragraph of the
story, although he is desperate to prove
otherwise.
Facts About Sigmund Freud
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Sigmund Freud was born on May
6th of 1856 in the town of Freiburg
but moved to Vienna at age 4.
He was born to merchant Jacob
Freud and Amalia, who was his
father's third wife.
Freud was first in his class in every
year.
Freud entered the University of
Vienna in 1873 with the idea of
obtaining a degree in law but then
changed to matriculating in
medicine. He became so
engrossed in the subject that he did
not acquire his degree until 1881.
In 1886 Freud married a woman he
had fallen in love with named
Martha Bernays and within 9 years
Psycho-Analysis
Sigmund Freud's study of psycho-analysis
consisted of human behavior and the study
of the human psychosis. Freud's model of
the human psyche consists of three parts,
which are the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the unconscious part of the
mind. The ego is the realistic part of the
psyche. The super-ego is the conscious
part of the mind. Freud's conclusions of
psycho-analysis were mainly to do with the
id or the unconscious. Freud believed that
Freud's Views on Anxiety
Freud used in his lectures, regarding anxiety,
the word “gemeine,” which means
“common” in German. This is a feasible
word because everyone experiences some
form of anxiety at one point in his or her life.
Anxiety is more pronounced in people who
undergo forms of neurosis, or distress.
Anxiety is often associated with fear
because it is a reaction to whatever is
frightening someone.
Comparing Freud's Views To The
Tell-Tale Heart
Freud's views can be well associated with
Poe's story, The Tell-Tale Heart, due to the
abnormal psychosis of the narrator. The
narrator's psychosis is abnormal due to his
madness. The narrator suffers from intense
anxiety as well. His fear of the old man's
eye is what caused his anxiety and what
led to him taking the life of the old man.
This anxiety became even more
pronounced when the narrator was being
questioned by the police. His increasing
Works Cited
Freud, Sigmund. Introductory Lectures on
Psycho-Analysis. Trans. James Strachey.
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1966.
Print.
Gay, Peter. Introduction. By James
Strachey. 1966. New York: W. W. Norton &
Company, 1989. ix-xxii. Print.
Hutchisson, James M. Poe. Mississippi:
University Press of Mississippi, 2005. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Tell-Tale Heart. 1843.