Schizophrenic Narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart

In the short story, The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe tells a dark story of the events
leading to the death of a cold man. In a three-page story, Poe uses techniques such as first-person
narrative to allow the reader to know what is in the main character’s head, specifically his
unspoken thoughts. The narrator describes the events that transpired, leading to him killing the
old man. The style used in the story effectively brings out the narrator’s mental health issue. He
is struggling with a psychological disorder, specifically paranoid schizophrenia. The paper
explores the narrator’s actions and how they show that he is schizophrenic.
Schizophrenia is a psychological condition that affects an individual’s thoughts, actions
and their overall perceptions about the world. A schizophrenic person may hear sounds and see
objects that do not actually exist. They may also speak in a way that may make others see as if
they want to harm them. In the story, the narrator hears the heartbeat of a man. He says, “Now I
could hear a quick, low, soft sound, like the sound of a clock heard through a wall. It was the
beating of the old man’s heart” (Poe 66). He was not in the same room as the old man at this
time. Thus, there is no way the narrator was hearing heart of the old man beating. If he heard any
noise, then the noise was in his head and not in reality. He heard non-existent noises.

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Further, the narrator makes attempts throughout story to comfort himself that he is alright
and that he does not have a mental illness, neither is he mad. At the beginning of the story, he
says, “But why do you say that I have lost control of my mind, why do you say that I am mad?
Can you not see that I have full control of my mind?” (Poe 64). He insists that he is completely
normal and functioning optimally. He has a false sense of reality. He subscribes to a narrative
about himself that is untrue and this is a trait of schizophrenia. After killing the old man, he
disputes that he is mad and even says that he carefully put the old man’s body in a place where
no one would find it and thus, he is perfectly normal.
Another trait characteristic of schizophrenia is diminished emotional responses and
delusions (Suryani 4). The narrator experience diminished emotional responses. This is evident
when he approaches the old man. He went saying, “die! Die!” (Poe 66). He did not have any
humanity left within him at this very moment. As he killed the old man, he was shouting and
probably pleading with him to save his life. His emotional responses were diminished, and he did
not hear any of that. He states, “Still his heart was beating, but I smiled as I felt that success was
near” (Poe 66). He shows no remorse for his actions even after killing the old man, and this is not
a characteristic of a sane person. When the three officers come knocking at his door, he does not
fear.
In addition, he is delusional, and this is evident after the police offices visit his house. He
states that they talked, and he tried talking louder and faster so that he could not hear the noises.
He even pulled a chair across the room to try and minimize the sounds that he was hearing. He
watches the police officers talking and smiling and wonders how and why they were not hearing
the same noises that he was hearing. It becomes clear that he is still hearing the old man’s
heartbeat. He wonders why the police are not reacting to the old man’s heart beating. He

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eventually decides to admit to the murder. He even helps the police discover where he had
hidden the body. He, however, admits because the man’s heart was still “beating”. He can hear
the voice. He is in a disturbed state, and he exclaims, “Yes! Yes, I killed him. Pull up the boards,
and you shall see! I killed him. But why does his heart not stop beating?! Why does it not stop!?”
(Poe 67). As the story ends, it is not clear where he will be taken to a hospital for treatment for
his mental health issues, or he would be arraigned in court to face charges for his actions. One
thing is clear, though; the narrator is schizophrenic.
Overall, the narrator’s mental illness affects his actions significantly. He kills a
defenceless old man and does not show any remorse for his actions. Through the author’s choice
of style, we get to know deep details about the narrator. We get an account of his thoughts as
they occur and his feelings. This is instrumental in making the determination that he has
schizophrenia. His actions do not align with sanity. Although he is in denial about his insanity,
his actions and thoughts show that he is indeed mentally unwell. The death of the old man is a
total justification that he has a problem and needs help.

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Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. The tell-tale heart. Penguin UK, 2015.
Suryani, Suci. “Understanding Disorganized Schizophrenia Through the Narrator’s Description
of His Mental Illness in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart.” Prosodi 8.2 (2014).