The Tell-Tale Heart Group

Question:

btcatao
btcatao

What are the narrator's descriptions of himself as the story "The Tell-Tale Heart" develops?

What are some words and phrases to describe his personality?

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Posted by btcatao on Sunday January 28, 2007 at 2:01 PM and tagged with isn't he crazy?, tell-tale heart's narrator, the tell-tale heart.

Answers:


  1. blazedale

    eNotes Editor

    "nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am"

    "the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell."

    He's clearly insane, justifying his own craziness by the crazy things that he does, which makes no sense.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/tell-tale-heart-text/

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    Posted by blazedale on Monday January 29, 2007 at 9:06 AM

  2. jdellinger
    jdellinger Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    "but why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole story."
    While he does not directly describe himself as mad, he questions the reader toi describe him as mad. He describes himself as ....wisely I proceeded — with what caution — with what foresight, with what dissimulation
    And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses?
    I have told you that I am nervous: so I am.

    Sources:
    http://fayette.k12.in.us/~cbeard/heart.html

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    Posted by jdellinger on Thursday March 22, 2007 at 7:04 AM

  3. sasou
    sasou Student

    as the story begins with" nervous", he wants to justify his madness by described what he did.

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    Posted by sasou on Sunday April 15, 2007 at 1:36 PM

  4. revolution
    revolution Teacher
    Doctorate

    He say he is very:

    1. nervous
    2. insane
    3. crazy
    4. making no sense
    5. mad

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    Posted by revolution on Monday July 27, 2009 at 6:58 AM