The Tell-Tale Heart | The Question of Poe’s Narrators
In the following excerpt, James W. Gargano praises Poe’s controlled presentation of an insane narrator in ‘‘The Tell-Tale Heart.’’
In ‘‘The Tell-Tale Heart’’ the cleavage between author and narrator is perfectly apparent. The sharp exclamations, nervous questions, and broken sentences almost too blatantly advertise Poe’s conscious intention; the protagonist’s painful insistence in ‘‘proving’’ himself sane only serves to intensify the idea of his madness. Once again Poe presides with precision of perception at the psychological drama he describes. He makes us understand that the voluble murderer has been tortured by the nightmarish terrors he attributes to his victim: ‘‘He was sitting up...
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