The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

1. The Tell-Tale Heart byEdgar Allan Poe

2. Facts About Edgar Allan Poe 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 and his death still remains a mystery. Prior to his death, on October 3rd, he was found on the streets in great distress.

3. 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 hospitable and calm and convinces the police that there had been no foul play. He eventually becomes disturbed and starts to hear the beating of a heart. He believes it to be the old man's heart still beating and finally admits to the police, who he thought were mocking his distress with hypocritical smiles, and tears up the planks of where he hid the body of the old man. To read the full story, go to this website: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/telltale.html

4. 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 Ego-Evil 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 Ki also states that Poe's characters do not remain oblivious for long though, due to the inquisitive gaze of others, which leaves them in hysterics and eventually to the confession of their misdeeds. Wing-chi Ki also states that the characters' confessions often do not lead to their redemption or a showing of guilt.

5. Key Components Within The Tell-Tale 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. In addition to the narrator's madness, is his paranoia or anxiety, which plays a key role in his madness because it heightens his madness.

6. Facts About Sigmund Freud • 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 of marriage had 6 children with her. His youngest child, Anna, became his confidante. • Freud spent his life's work on the study of psycho-analysis. • Freud died September 23rd of 1939 after he requested a lethal dose of morphine from his physician.

7. 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 super-ego. 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 all feelings and behavior were a reaction to what humans experienced through dreams and other parts of the unconscious.

8. 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.

9. 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 anxiety led to his confession when he believed he heard the beating of the old man's heart.

10. 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. Wing-chi Ki, Magdalen. “Ego-Evil and The Tell-Tale Heart.” Renascence. Fall 2008: 25-38. Ebscohost. Web. 18 December 2011.