What is the narrators motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
Monday, September 20, 2010
Week of September 20th--The Tell-Tale Heart
What is the narrators motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
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Chisom:
ReplyDelete1) Discuss who could be the villain (antagonist) in Tell-Tale Heart? Consider your many options for the villain, and discuss your rationale for your final choice.
The villain is the narrator’s insanity. It causes the narrator to think that the old man’s simple cataract is an evil vulture eye that scrutinizes his every move. The narrator explains his disdain for the eye: “One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever” (Tell-Tale Heart 121). He deludes himself into thinking that the old man’s harmless cataract is out to get him; from this, he rationalizes that his only salvation is to murder this innocent man. The narrator’s insanity is also the villain because it causes him to imagine the beating of the old man’s heart in the end. There was never any actual beating; it was all in his mind. Had his insanity not caused the sound, the narrator wouldn’t have been driven to admit the deed to the police. In essence, he would have gotten away with the murder. His insanity brought about his own demise in the story.
2) What is the narrator’s motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
The narrator reveals that he killed the old man because he thinks that the police hear the beating of the old man’s heart; in reality, there never was any beating. The narrator’s insanity just convinced him that there was. The narrator rationalizes that since they already hear the beating, he might as well confess and tell the police that it was he who committed the crime. He thinks that the police are just pretending that they don’t hear it: “They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror...” (Tell-Tale Heart 124). The police did not hear the beating, though, because there wasn’t any. Despite this, the narrator believed that they did hear it. He thought that rather than sit there and let the police’s dissemblance drive him to insanity, he might as well admit the deed.
3) What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart, and how does it relate to the title of the story?
The ultimate irony in the story is that it’s not the heart that is tell-tale, it is the narrator. When one first reads the title, they assume that the heart of the old man informs the police of the murder. Instead, the narrator does. If not for the narrator’s insanity, the police would never have found out about the murder. The narrator exclaims to the police, “’…I admit the deed...’” (Tell-Tale Heart 124). There was never any actual beating of the heart. The narrator’s insanity just causes the sound to resonate in his mind. He even says in the beginning, “Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth” (Tell-Tale Heart 121). He says that he hears many things, which explains why he imagined the beating of the heart. When he grows nervous and thinks that the police hear the beating, he is driven to admit the deed.
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ReplyDelete1)The eye is the villain because it symbolizes the protagonist’s insanity, which he is trying to repress. Every time the protagonist looks in the eye, he is reminded of his insanity, which he is trying to repress.
ReplyDelete2) The reason he recites the crime in great detail is to try to not only convince the reader, but also himself that he is not insane. He says many times things such as, “you fancy me mad.” However, he tries to prove to us, and himself, that he is not by saying things such as, “Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this?” Basically, he is reciting the story to prove that he is not insane, and that his actions were justifiable.
3) The irony of the story is that the heart beating at the end tells us that the eye is still alive even after the protagonist kills the old man. And, since the eye symbolizes the protagonist’s insanity, it means that the protagonist is still crazy. So, even after all his careful planning, his craziness still prevails in the end.
-Jack
Chisom Oraedu:
ReplyDelete1) Discuss who could be the villain (antagonist) in Tell-Tale Heart? Consider your many options for the villain, and discuss your rationale for your final choice.
The eye is the villain. The eye represents the predatory nature of the protagonist. We know that he is a predator because he kills the old man. The eye symbolizes the protagonist’s insanity, which he tries to repress. Looking at the eye every day is a reminder of his insanity. The protagonist is trying to convince himself that he’s not crazy.
2) What is the narrator’s motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
The narrator recites the crime because he thinks that the policemen hear it. He rationalizes that they are making a mockery of him and are pretending not to hear it: “Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!” (Tell-Tale Heart 124). The narrator believes that the policemen are pretending that they don’t hear it to drive him insane, which eventually happens in the end.
3) What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart, and how does it relate to the title of the story?
The heart beating at the end tells us that the eye is still alive even after the protagonist kills the old man. The eye symbolizes the protagonist’s insanity, so this means that the he is still crazy. In his mind, the protagonist did not kill the eye, so he did not kill his insanity. Up until the end, the protagonist tries to convince us that he isn’t crazy. We begin to realize that he is, though, when he begins to hear the heart. The police don’t hear it, so he must be crazy. He tries to displace the responsibility of his sanity onto the policemen. He calls the policemen “Villains!” (Tell-Tale Heart 124). The ultimate irony is that he goes crazy in the end; his insanity takes over. The whole time he tries to convince us that he’s not insane, while throughout the entire story, he grows more and more insane. The tone of the story is one of calmness. It wasn’t an emotional murder. The eye made him feel anxious and nervous.
Chisom Oraedu:
ReplyDelete1) Discuss who could be the villain (antagonist) in Tell-Tale Heart? Consider your many options for the villain and discuss your rationale for your final choice.
The villain is the old man’s eye. When the narrator looks into it, he sees his own insanity reflected back at himself. He goes to crazy lengths to rid himself of it and thus his insanity. He did not hate the old man, though, just his Evil Eye. He made it his mission to rid himself of it: “Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever” (Tell-Tale Heart 121).
2) What is the narrator’s motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
The narrator reveals to the policemen that he committed the crime. He does this because their relaxed dispositions drive him to the point of insanity; he knows that they are just pretending when they act like they can’t hear the heart beating. He can’t take their dissemblance any longer and is ultimately driven to admit the deed: “I felt that I must scream or die!—and now—again!—hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!” (Tell-Tale Heart 124). Their dissemblance coupled with the ever-louder beating of the old man’s heart drive him over the edge.
3) What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
The ultimate irony in the story is that the narrator proves to be insane by the end. The whole time he tries to convince the audience that he is not insane and that the eye is what’s evil: “…why will you say that I am mad?...How, then, am I mad?...I loved the old man. He had never wronged me…I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!” (Tell-Tale Heart 121). The eye symbolizes his insanity, so when he kills the old man he tries to repress his insanity. In the end when the heart starts beating, this shows that the narrator failed to kill the old man and therefore repress his insanity. So the whole time even though he tries to convince us that he’s not insane, by the end he most definitely is.
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ReplyDelete1) The villian of the story is the Old Man's eye because it represents the protagonist's insanity. Everytime he sees the Old Man and his eye, he is reminded of his insanity, and that is why he decides to rid himself of the eye forever.
ReplyDelete2) He recites the crime to the reader in a rushed and excited way. His point in telling his story is to prove to the listeners of his tale that he is not crazy. However, in a way, he is also trying to convince himself he's not crazy.
3) The ultimate irony of the story is that the entire time the protagonist is trying to appear less insane, the more his insanity becomes aparent to the reader. Also, at the end, when he finally kills the Old Man, the heart beats on, which symbolizes his insanity still lives on even though the eye has been destroyed.
-Jack
1. i think that the villain is the eye. It’s the eye because it is what starts the narrators demise. i do not think that the eye is repressing an emotion that the narrator is trying to repress but I think that the eye is kind of acting like a window and giving the man direct view to his insanity. So I think that the eye is going against the protagonist because he is proving him what the man is desperately trying to disprove, that he is insane.
ReplyDelete2. The man's motivation is that in his mind he thinks that everyone can hear the man's heart beating but he is the only person that can actually hear it. So at first he is just exploding of his emotions because he is scared that everyone can hear the beating heart but he is only hurting himself. His insanity wasn't his motivation but it was a contributing factor that brought him and the little bit of sanity that he had come to an end.
3. i think the irony of the title is that the beating heart is what hurts the man. After he has committed the murder the man's heart is what the narrator thinks is going to tell everybody that he has killed the only man but really he tells that he killed him. so it’s ironic because the heart was only reiterating the tale that he has just committed, but the man thinks that the heart is telling everyone else the tale.
1. i still think that the antagonist is the eye but i kind of think that it is the man's insanity too. i think it is this because the man's insanity is what keeps him froming living a normal life. his insanity has his constantly sneaking into the old's man's room and staring at his eye for hours. it is what keeps him going to his house everyone, knowing that he could get caught but he still does it. his insanity makes him to things that we would see as strange but since he has very little sanity left in his that this seems like something that he has to do and not something out of the ordinary. so i think that the eye makes his insanity grows larger and larger and the beating of the heart of his final breaking point. so all of these are factors that lead the man into his failure.
ReplyDelete2. i think that the man's motivation is that he wants to prove that he is not insane. i think that in his mind everyone can heart the heart and to prove that he is not insane he needs to cover it up so that hte police won't quesiton him but since no one can hear it then he's not helping himself he just hurting himself. so i think that his motivation ot prove to everyone that he is not insane is the main reason that he does not suceed in the end.
3. i still think that the irony is that the man's heart only tells the tale to the narrator and not to everyone else. but the title is saying "tell-tale heart" as if the heart is telling everyone that the narrator did the crime. when it is only constnatly reminding the man of what he has done and taunting his mind, testing how far he can go without completely being called insane.
oh yea those two latest posts are from deidre.
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