Tell Tale Heart Essay

HTH s idea is portrayed hen we see the protagonists struggle between himself and the old man's eve axed eye. As the story progresses, the conflict between the protagonist and the beating heart r enders the idea of the narrator versus himself. The external struggle within the Story seems to be the narrator's conflict with the old man. The protagonist loved the old man, eliminating motives that might normally in spire such a violent murder.As he proclaims his own sanity, the narrator fixates on the old man's vulture. â€Å"It was open wide, wide open and grew furious as gazed upon it. Saw it wit h perfect strictness all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very mar row in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man ‘s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot. † The narrator reduces the old man t o the distinctive blue of his eye in obsessive fashion.He separates the man from his â€Å"Evil Eye† so he can spare the man the burden of guilt that he attributes to the eye itself. The narrator FAA ills to see that the eye of the old man is a fundamental part of his identity that cannot be isolate d as the narrator abnormally imagines. As a result of his warped sense of reality, the narrator obsesses over the low beats of the man's heart, yet shows little concern about the man's shrieks, which are loud enough to attract his neighbor's attention and draw the police to the scene of the crime.Through hoot the story, he explains that he is not mad, but ironically, he is the opposite of this, as he strut eagles to comprehend his own mind. The narrator's paranoia and guilt make it mine NT that he will give himself away. The police arrive on the scene to give him the opportunity to be tray himself. The more the narrator professes his own calm manner, the more he is unable to e cape the beating of his own heart, which he mistakes for the beating of the old man's heart.As he co nfesses to the crime in the final sentence, he addresses the policemen as â€Å"villains,† indicating g his incapability to distinguish between their real identity and his own villainy. The internal conflict within the story is disguised as external conflict, through t he way that Poe describes the struggle of man versus man and man versus self. The protagonist battles with the old man's â€Å"vexed† eye; however, this slowly turns into a combat bet en the narrators own mind, as he tries to escape the beating of his own heart.