ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The reason he tells the story is to try and defend his sanity, yet he confesses to killing the old man that he is a caretaker for. Ironically, he gives proof that he does have a paranoid personality disorder, when trying to convince the audience that what he did was not insane.

Detailed explanation-2: -What evidence does the narrator give that he is not mad? The narrator says that he “heard all things in the heaven and in the earth” and “many things in hell.” He also expresses his desire to take the old man’s life because he has a pale blue eye that makes his blood run cold.

Detailed explanation-3: -Thus he confesses to his horrible deed. The narrator’s “tell-tale” heart causes him to convict himself. We have here, then, a narrator who believes that he is not mad because he can logically describe events which seem to prove him to be mad.

Detailed explanation-4: -The short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is told by endeavor narrator who tries to convince the audience that he is sane. The narrator of the story is a madman that is disturbed by his belief that the old man has an evil eye.

Detailed explanation-5: -Why does the narrator call himself “nervous” but not “mad"? What does this tell us about him? This tells us that he wants to justify being mad and wanting to kill the old man to end the vex.