Discuss who could be the villain (antagonist) in Tell-Tale Heart? Consider your many options for the villain and discuss your rationale for your final choice.
What is the narrators motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
Carter
ReplyDelete1)In my opinion, the villain is the heart of the old man. I think this because the point of a villain in Gothic Literature is to express the repressed emotions of the protagonist. The heart symbolizes his guilt, as even as it lay dead under the floorboards, it still beats in his mind, with "a low, dull quick sound-much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton." This is the same sound that he heard before, as the old man lay in his bed, his heart trumpeting from fear. As his guilt grows due to the hovering eye of the visiting police, so does the sound of the heart. He thinks that the police can hear it, and are mocking him, so he confesses, tearing up the planks and shouting "'Villains! dissemble no more! I admit the deed!'"
2)The narrator's motivation in reciting the crime is to show that he is not crazy, a testimony of sorts. He often makes it known to the reader that he is sane, saying things such as "You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing", "have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses?", and "I have told you that I am nervous: so I am." These quotes are his trying to rationalize his actions in a light of sanity, as opposed to psychotic rage.
3)The ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart is that he spends the entire story trying to prove his sanity, and that in the end, he is done in by his own mind. He tries to prove to the reader that he was not mad, merely nervous, and his hearing things that did not exist led him to admitting the deed, even as the police thought him innocent and were merely chatting.
Amelia
ReplyDelete1) I believe the villain is the guilt the narrator feels within himself, and takes form in the beating of the old man’s heart. The “low, dull, quick sound- much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” is the guilt taking over his mind and body. The guilt ultimately wins, just like in all Gothic literature. The narrator is a madman, even if he denies it.
2) The narrator is attempting to prove to himself that he was just in killing an innocent man. He is qualifying the murder with his annoyance with his dislike for the old man’s “pale blue eye, with a film over it” (Heart 121). He speaks to an audience, yet the battle he is fighting is actually within himself, his guilt and conscience versus the murder he committed. “You fancy me man” he says “Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded- with what caution- with what foresight…” (Heart 121). He is referring to his work almost like a piece of art, something to be admired. He is coping with what he did, and trying to find support.
3) The irony is that he kills this man to deal with an annoyance, and yet the beat of the old man’s heartbeat comes back to annoy him, to the point of admitting to his murderous ways. The heartbeat of the old man tells the tale of his own murder, and symbolizes the guilt the narrator feels that causes him to confess, screaming “I admit the deed!-tear up the planks!- here, here!-it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Heart 124)
Carter
ReplyDeleteI also want to add to 1) The heartbeat may also be his own, beating from fear, and his guilt leads him to believe it is that of the old man. There are, in the narrator's mind, however, 2 other villains, the eye and the police. The eye represents the guilt of past deeds, as he thinks that it is able to see what a regular eye cannot, the depths of his mind. He then decides to rid himself of the eye before a secret of his past can be released. The police are also a representation of his guilt. When they first arrive, he does not feel guilty, but as they stay, his guilt grows. Once they begin to chat, he feels they are mocking him, and his guilt grows until he cannot take it anymore.
To Amelia: I think that the the eye is more than an annoyance to him. It causes him to go pale, and is the sole reason for his deeds. One does not simply kill out of annoyance, but for something more.
Amelia
ReplyDeleteTo Carter: I understand that better now. I believe that the narrator thinks the eye can see within him, and that causes him great discomfort, or maybe that the film over the eye is a veil, hiding a secret, an evil, or a truth.
1. i think the villain evolves as the story goes on. at first the villain is described as the old man's eye. he makes it very clear the the man himself is very dear to him. he describes the eye as being evil and i think he is thinking it is evil because it is strange and there is something about it he can never know, like maybe it is looking into his soul and the eye knows that he doesnt like it. then later, towards the end, the old man's beating heart, or what the protagonist thinks is beating but is actually his guilty conscience, is the villain. the heart is then the villain because it makes the protagonist lose control of himself and confess his crime.
ReplyDelete2. the narrators motivation in reciting the crime is to prove to the reader that he is not as crazy and insane as the situation can make him sound and prove all of his reasons. he also shows his side of the story and how he thought the eye was evil and also what happened near the end.
3. the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart is that the eye ends up on not being evil but the heart and the dead heart's beating is the problem. it relates the title of the story because the heart is "tattle-tailing" which reminds me of "Tell-Tale". also when you say "tell-tale heart" aloud it sounds rhythmic like a heartbeat.
Lauren Steiner
i would also like to add that maybe the saying "an eye for an eye" can be relevant to the story. it is kind of ironic because it is kind of karma-ish and about getting what you deserve and its about eyes which is what the story is about. maybe the killer killing the man for his eye and then because of that losing his composure and confessing to police about it, which would probably lead to his punishment or death, is the killer and old man's "eye for an eye"
ReplyDeleteLauren Steiner
ROY
ReplyDelete1. Discuss who could be the villain (antagonist) in Tell-Tale Heart? Consider your many options for the villain and discuss your rationale for your final choice.
I believe that the villain is ultimately the beating heart of the old man as well as his eye, or the, "Evil Eye." In the eyes of the protagonist, the police are the true villains while to the audience the true villain is the murderer or the narrator. The evil eye ultimately represents the repressed emotions of the protagonist. So does the heart, due to its increased rate of beating with guilt.
2. What is the narrators motivation in reciting the crime? Consider the details he provides as he recites the crime from the beginning to the end.
The narrator's motivation is to try and discount the image that he is either mad, or insane. He wants to tell everyone, from his point of view, that he is indeed not mad but perfectly sane. He uses his description to anoint the belief that he is mad.
3. What is the ultimate irony in Tell-Tale Heart and how does it relate to the title of the story?
The irony is that the tell-tale heart alludes to the heart being a tattle tale. It alludes also to the heart revealing the secrets of the story, which ultimately happens to the protagonist, or the murderer.
Roy
ReplyDelete1) I would also like to add that the protagonist's heart may also be the symbol of the tell-tale heart. The heart beat he is hearing when the police come in may be not only the heart of the villain but his own heart!
2) Also, in addition to proving to the READERS that he is not mad, the narrator also explains this to prove to HIMSELF that he is not mad.
3) Also, the heart proves too much for the narrator and, “I admit the deed!-tear up the planks!- here, here!-it is the beating of his hideous heart!” (Heart 124)
i would also like to add some things
ReplyDelete1. at some points the protagonist sounds like the villain. for instance it is villain-like when he says "and so by degrees, i made up my mind to take the life of the old man. thus, i would rid myself of the eye forever." this makes him seem selfish and lurid.
2. it causes the reader to think when the protagonist says, "I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. How, then, am i mad?...Observe how healthily- how calmly i can tell you the whole story." it sounds as though he is trying to make the reader comprehend the story in his "shoes" and understand that he did not do it just because he is crazy. he chose to kill the man because of his "pale blue eye" and because: "whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold." this is an example of one of his reasons to do what he did.
^Lauren Steiner
ReplyDeleteCARTER
ReplyDelete2) As the narrator tells the story, it becomes more apparent that he is trying not only to prove to the reader that he is sane, but to himself. He wants desperately to show that his murdering of the old man was righteous, and not evil.
3) Another irony of the story is that the "Tell tale Heart" did not really exist. The heart was only heard by the narrator, who then told the police about the old man.
ROY
ReplyDelete1) Here are some quotes form the story to back up my opinions: "I think it was his eye! yes it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture- a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees- very gradually- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever." Upon further examination, the quote forms an opossition between the two main opposing characters in the story: the eye and the narrator, thus giving the us the protagonist, the narrator, and our antagonist, the eye.
2) "...why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses-not destroyed- not dulled them... How, then, am I mad? Hearken1 and observe how healthily- how calmly I can tell you the whole story." This quote is comprised of the first words that the narrator ever assimilated in the story. It shows, without any previous intuition, that the narrator is suspected to have been mad, maybe by himself, or maybe by his peers, or maybe even both, the story never states explicitly.
3) "I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observation of the men-but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do... any thing was better than this agony! Any thing was more tolerable than this derision... I admit the deed-tear up the planks!-here, here!- it is the beating of his hideous heart!" In this, the final lines state explicitly the irony contained within the pages; that of the heart telling the "tale" and ultimately giving our protagonist up to the authorities.
Amelia
ReplyDelete1) After our discussions, I believe there are multiple villains. For the old man, the narrator is the villain for killing him. For the narrator, the eye, the police, and the guilt symbolized by the heart beat that drives him to confess are all the villains. As he speaks of the eye, he says “Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold”. As he confesses, screams and calls the police “Villains!” However, I believe that this all these are all symbols for the guilt that is driving him to insanity. I think the guilt he feels within is the true villain, for it is what drives him to confess.
2) Our discussions only strengthened my belief that he is attempting to justify killing the old man. "You fancy me mad”, he says, “Madmen know nothing". It is an attempt to ease his guilt.
3) The heart and the guilt ultimately end up driving the narrator to confessing. The heart has the story of the old man’s murder to tell, hence the “Tale- Tell”. The heart driving the narrator insane brings justice to the old man, for the story of his murder is told to the police. The protagonist tried to rid himself of the all seeing eye, only for the heart to come back and tell the tale.