"The Raven" on The Simpsons
Poe has also elicited extremes in the reactions to his literature. Some consider him little more than a nineteenth century version of Stephen King--overblown, overpraised, excessive to the point of being a self-parody. Others, like the French, consider him one of the greatest American writers we've produced (though they also think Jerry Lewis is a comic genius. Go figure.) Poe would heartily concur with the French since, as he liked to point out to any poor soul who would listen, he indeed was the greatest. (Poe was not above trashing other of his contemporaries, such as Hawthorne, in an effort to bulk up his own reputation.) Such extreme reactions are quite appropriate given the extremeness of his literature. He is the X-Games equivalent of American Literature. He is much in line with what was being done by other romanticist writers in his focus on the inner life and heightened sensations and feelings. But Poe takes that romanticist predilection to a degree that no other American writer does. Rather than simply write about the heightened sense of his characters, he takes his characters to a liminal, uncertain world between sanity and madness. That's where Poe's juice comes from--that twilight place betwixt and between where one is not really sure what's real and what's not. Poe's stories, then, tend to be disorienting to readers, particularly when he narrates from the first person point of view, as is the case with "The Tell-Tale Heart." Combine these elements with Poe's fondness for a supernatural context (though note he does not write ghost stories), and he is able to create a truly idiosyncratic American literature.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is nothing short of brilliant. It represents Poe at his best, to a large degree because although excess and obsession are still integral to the story, here he shows a restraint and control that he rarely ever has. This is also brilliant because it is perhaps his most unsettling story. Throughout the story there are elements of it that are elusive. Who is the old man? What is the relationship between the two? Is the narrator insane? After all, he claims not to be. But if he is, then why do we believe anything he tells us? There are answers we should have but don't, reasons we should know but don't. Consequently as readers we may feel a vague, persistent unease as we move through the narrative. Although we conveniently sometimes refer to Poe as a horror writer, he in fact is a terror writer. The difference? Horror is about revulsion after the fact; terror is about dread before the fact.
Let's start with two questions, though they may actually be two sides of the same question. First, Poe commonly tells his stories from a first-person point of view. He likes to drop his readers into the minds of his protagonists. What effect or impact does the first-person narration have upon this particular story? Second, the writer insists he is not mad. Your thoughts on that? There are interesting ramifications to the story depending upon how you answer this question.
Poe’s use of first person narrative in The Tell Tale Heart is almost autobiographical. From what I have studied of Poe, just as his character in this story, he seems to be at times harboring his own paranoia. As such, I think the story is even more compelling. Poe escorts us through the mind of this madman, and shows us the conflicts raging therein. So, one better understands the narrator’s continuous declaration of his sanity is not so much to convince the reader—but rather himself. Once he has done so (for the moment) his precepts completely jaded, and lunacy in full reign, he proceeds with his cruel unprovoked deed. He even boasts of his actions. “Never before that night, had I felt the extent of my own powers-of my sagacity.” Meanwhile, the reader recognizes what he terms as his sagacity-is actually complete irrationality. After the authorities probing becomes too much for his fragile rationalizations we see the ultimate breakdown, which gives way to the consciousness of his actions. The burden alone too unbearable; therefore, he is obliged to confess.
ReplyDeleteYour comments help to unfold the further complexities of this story. As you note, the murder appears to be unprovoked. But is it unprovoked because it doesn't fit into any conception that we have of rationality? That's also why I think your comment about "irrationality" is important. By all we understand the term "rational" to mean, his actions are irrational. But is irrational the same as insane? See, what I think makes this story so effective is that we as readers need to identify the actions as both insane and irrational, because it's too terrifying to consider the possibility that one could be both sane and rational and do something like this. But I wonder if that's what Poe is asking us to think about.
ReplyDeleteThe effect of a first-person narrative on this story is that we can truly feel the giddy hatred that the writer harvests for our "blue eyed... vulture". It would be one thing, all bet a rather boring side, to hear the story from that of an outsider. But to hear the story from our "mastermind" brings a new terror into the story. Instead of just having the visual of the beating heart, it is described in such a frenzied fashion as to give the reader the actual feeling and reverberations as the sound erupts of the walls of the bed chamber.
ReplyDeleteAs to whether our delightfully entertaining narrator is a wee bit crazy, I would say that the reader would have to be crazy themselves to deny the narrator of having even the slightest bit of insanity. His descriptions, while I have stated earlier, are incredible but too thought provoked and exciting for him. There is also the case against him of peering for hours on end into the chamber of our "vulture". A hysteria such as this must be given the credit of being crazy.
You ask what effect or impact does the first-person narration have upon this particular story. It makes it ambiguous. Where is it that the narrator is a man? If you reread the story assuming it was a woman telling it, it takes on a whole different meaning. It had been a thought that the old man was a father figure. To me, reading this with a woman as the narrator, the vulture eye resembles a watching eye. Why would she then wait for night? Incest? Perhaps she had been hurt by this old man in the past and seeks revenge? A crime like this seems to be a crime of passion, passionate in a way that he/she truly believes in what they are about to do. Such a meticulous plan...while someone could be insane, they are just as likely to be sane with good cause.
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ReplyDeleteCassandre -- That woman's perspective idea was really different I would have never thought to look at the story through a woman narrator!
ReplyDeleteThe narrator is able to tell his tale as only he can experience it by using the first person narrative. Any other point of view, like omniscient, because it would give the audience a look into the minds of other characters in the story(like the old man or gentlemen), not just the narrator's so he would be eliminating the element of suspense he uses towards the end of the story( which changes it from horror to terror)
The first-person point of view is what makes this story so dreadful and dismaying. At the beginning of the story, the narrator states that he does not believe to be "mad" but instead very sane. As the story progresses, the reader comes to realize that he is insane and is therefore an unreliable narrator: his words cannot be trusted. The wicked views of this narrator give the audience a disturbing look into the mind of a seriously sadistic person, and adds to the author's overall haunting tone of the piece. Yet, we read in our texts "...to his creation memorable pathological narrators, which readers have confused with Poe himself..." But I can't help, but be confused because that's what I want to do put Poe as the narrator, can you help shed some light on the idea?
Perhaps why Poe is so popular is because his emotions and inner thoughts are more extreme and dark than other writers of the period.
Having The Tell Heart told in first person shows the instability of the narrator. I think reading the story makes you uneasy because you're seeing things from this man's perspective and it's distorted. I say distorted because I'm not ready to commit to the idea that his mind is completely gone. After all, he assures us he's not. And for some reason, part of me believes him. Distorted, because as mentioned, we can't determine rational from irrational from this point of view.
ReplyDeletePart of the problem always when dealing with a first person narrator is the tendency to confuse the narrator with the author. To get theoretical for a moment, in literature the narrator and author are two distinct entities. Basically the narrator is a persona that the author assumes to tell the story. Authors don't necessarily choose first person narration to be autobiographical; they often choose it to force the reader into a highly subjective, even claustrophobic world where we are at the mercy of whoever is telling us the story. Having said that, I wouldn't automatically discount the possibility that there is some sort of autobiographical element here. Poe was abused by his adopted father, John Allan, and he also witnessed Allan being much more generous to his illegitimate children than to Poe himself. The notion of abuse that Cassandre raises earlier, then, is a distinct possibility, since there is thought that Poe's own experiences at least informed the making of this story. (And the gender of the narrator isn't explicitly identified; do we typically assume male because we assume that the "I" of the story is Poe himself?)
ReplyDeleteI also like the word AlexisRae uses to describe the narrator--instability. What's interesting there too is that because we have no other choice than to see the world as the narrator sees it, that means we become unstable too. I mean, think about it--how do we know that anything the narrator tells us is true?
The murder of the old man illustrates the extent to which the narrator separates the old man’s identity from his physical eye. The narrator sees the eye as completely separate from the man, and as a result, he is capable of murdering him while maintaining that he loves him. The narrator’s desire to eradicate the man’s eye motivates his murder, but the narrator does not acknowledge that this act will end the man’s life. By dismembering his victim, the narrator further deprives the old man of his humanity. The narrator confirms his conception of the old man’s eye as separate from the man by ending the man altogether and turning him into so many parts. That strategy turns against him when his mind imagines other parts of the old man’s body working against him.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator’s newly heightened sensitivity to sound ultimately overcomes him, as he proves unwilling or unable to distinguish between real and imagined sounds. Because of his warped sense of reality, he obsesses over the low beats of the man’s heart yet shows little concern about the man’s shrieks, which are loud enough both to attract a neighbor’s attention and to draw the police to the scene of the crime. The police do not perform a traditional, judgmental role in this story. Ironically, they aren’t terrifying agents of authority or brutality. Poe’s interest is less in external forms of power than in the power that pathologies of the mind can hold over an individual. The narrator’s paranoia and guilt make it inevitable that he will give himself away. The police arrive on the scene to give him the opportunity to betray himself. The more the narrator proclaims his own cool manner, the more he cannot escape the beating of his own heart, which he mistakes for the beating of the old man’s heart. As he confesses to the crime in the final sentence, he addresses the policemen as “villains,” indicating his inability to distinguish between their real identity and his own villainy. As Cassandre indicates how do we know that the narrator is male? We can paint an entire other picture from the female perspective and the story then changes to abuse.
Professor Bodziock--
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point by saying that one needs to understand the distinction between narrator and author. As you stated, " Authors don't necessarily choose first person narration to be autobiographical; they often choose it to force the reader into a highly subjective, even claustrophobic world where we are at the mercy of whoever is telling us the story." I find this very true. Its almost as if we become accomplices because we are often made privy to the characters intentions beforehand, and present during the act itself. Neverthless, I am glad that you acknowledge that in this case, author/narrator do not necessarily have to be mutually exclusive; because that is my thought. Again, I think this makes Poe better equipped to effecutate his story.
Also, while I do find the question of gender a very interesting one, I do not think the narrator is a woman. Heres Why. "Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. "Madmen" know nothing." Then he says, "I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha!-Would a "madman" have been so wise as this?"(2492) I do not think a woman would imply that she was, or I should say,(was not) a "madman"; even loosely. While it was never stated definitively, those two statements lead me to believe the narrator was in fact a man. The only other explanation would be that Poe, had made a mistake. With his attention to detail, I highly doubt that possible once;certainly not twice.
The notion that as readers we become accomplices--rather than the passive receivers of the story--is a very nice one, and actually reflects what would be a modernist perception of literature and readership. Now, the fact that chronologically Poe predates modernist literature (typically early 20th century)doesn't mean that he doesn't set the stage for it. In fact, Poe had a profound influence on subsequent modernist writers. (I would also say that Melville also anticipates modernist literature.) A key element of modernist literature, and Poe, is the way they implicate readers in the text.
ReplyDeleteSigh-- I posted a response and it's not there -- perhaps it didn't post in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that we shouldn't always assume that the narrator is the author, I believe that in this case, he is. Many horror and suspense writers foster a dark, strange persona (I'm thinking of Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft, among others)and often admit that it arises from Poe; in Poe's case I don't believe it was put-on. There was truly instability there, whether from mental illess or alcohol.
I believe that the narrator is male, for the same reasons that Tia pointed out, as well as the fact that Poe was out of control at several points in his life. He had a love/hate relationship with his adopted father; he must have been grateful for Allan's help in securing the (very difficult to get) West Point appointment, but resentful that Allan refused to bail him out of trouble. If he was constantly wondering what his adopted father thought of him, that his activities were always under scrutiny, that would account for the "eye" analogy. Perhaps the "hideous veil" over the eye is Allan's refusal to see Poe's worth; or, alternately, Allan's earlier willingess to help him when Poe may have believed himself not worth helping. Poe's alcohol abuse problem would only heighten this frustration and it's not unreasonable to think of him wanting to get both revenge and attention by doing harm to Allan.
The narrator claims that he is not mad, but I believe that Poe wants us to think that he is, and that the author believed himself mad, at least at times during his life. I think that the beating of the tell-tale heart (or is it the death watch beetles?) foreshadows not the old man's destruction, which he knows is going to occur, but his own collapse and self-destruction.
I think reading the killer’s story from his point of view heightens the tension and suspense. You really feel like you are inside his head, seeing that creepy blue eye, hearing the thumping heartbeat growing louder and louder, watching the policeman pretending not to notice anything is amiss. If we had read the story from someone else’s point of view, we would not have the same insight or feel the intense emotions of the killer.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator tries to convince us that he is not mad and surely we must see that he had to kill the old man even though he loved him. He attempts to persuade the reader of his sanity by describing the very calm methodical way he slowly opened the door night after night waiting for just the right moment. We can rely on the narrator to tell the truth – as he sees, hears, feels and believes it. But his perceptions are so distorted they do not reflect the true reality which is that an innocent old man was brutally murdered by a madman.
Poe had a complicated life and struggled with personal relationships, finances, and success. Maybe the man with the blue eye was really John Allan who denied him any inheritance, or it could have been Longfellow whom he seemed to resent for his literary success and prosperity. In his biography of Edgar A. Poe, Kenneth Silverman writes, “Poe’s work represents no overcoming of his personal history…a past that he still mourned continued to shape his literary expression.”
Although I mentioned the possibility that Poe's personal animosities may have been inspiration for this story, it is also just as likely that there was no personal element. As Teri has pointed out, Poe appeared to have a darker side which makes it easy to identify him with the narrator.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the Simpson’s episode on “The Raven,” and I really love that the show included such a great literary piece! We actually watched this in my English class in high school.
ReplyDeletePoe, through first person narrative, truly puts us in the mind of the narrator. I really felt uneasy, my heart was beating and I kept glancing nervously around the room as I read the story. Seeing the pattern of his thoughts has more intimacy and is more convincing than an outsider’s interpretive perspective. If it were in third person, we would not know the fascinating and terrifying thought process of the killer. The narrator explains his reasoning for killing a man so well. He only wants to kill the EYE of the old man, not the actual human… which is totally more acceptable. It is also very disturbing to have the narrator say “you would have laughed” to us, the readers (page 2492). This wording makes it seem like are friends with a murderer, in on his plan!
The writer obviously suffers from some sort of psychological problem. Lunacy, perhaps? It is unnatural to have such light thoughts of killing, dismembering, etc. Just because he is insane does not mean he has no conscience or heart. We see, at the end of the story, that his guilt overpowers him. He only wanted to kill the eye, not the person! Oops.
Lauren -- It seems like Poe's tales (and some of Hawthorne's, too) are best read alone on a dark and stormy night! I think that Tell-Tale Heart loses a bit when read by the light of day.
ReplyDeleteTaking note of your comment about only killing the eye, I'm wondering what Poe is trying to psychologically deconstruct when he dismembers the old man; he could have just dumped him in one piece under the floorboards. Or perhaps it's just that dismemberment makes the act that much more horrific?
One way of thinking about the "eye" would be to see it in light of traditional perceptions of the eye as a "window to the soul"--that is, while words can lie, we can presumably see genuine character and intent in the eyes of someone. So obsessing about the eye is perhaps a way for the narrator to tell us that the narrator detects a "truth" about the old man that must be destroyed.
ReplyDeleteBut another way to think about it is to flip it around: the eye sees (the narrator), the eye watches (the narrator), the eye knows the narrator. The problem, then, isn't what the eye reveals about the old man, but what the eye reveals about the narrator. In this way the story reminds of the secret lives of so many of Hawthorne's characters, lives that were kept out of sight of friends and neighbors (literally in the case of Mr. Hooper). Remember, romanticism is very much concerned with the interior life of its characters. It would make sense that romanticist writers would want to explore the possibilities of interior lives and interior selves disguised by external trappings and behaviors
This was the first time that I had read Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart and I was very much impressed. Although it rather short, I found myself interested in the content and the feelings that he expressed. Based on his motives, it's very clear that what he wrote were clearly his intentions and thoughts and I felt that it was a little disturbing to know that much about him. I also felt that the first person point of view helps the narration because it's giving the reader a good look into Poe's mind and his private thoughts. I believe that Poe may have been mad, but it's hard to make a concrete assumption, although the Evil Eye seemed to have drove him to the point of insanity.
ReplyDeleteThe first person narration is good to a certain extent. We get to know how and what he feels and what he sees and what is going on. On the other side, some of the things he says and does leads you to believe he is insane even though he insists he isn't. I believe that he is mad or even paranoid. He talks about the beating of the heart getting louder and louder, even after the man is dead, he still hears the beating. When he talks about dismembering the man it is a little creepy. By the end of the story Poe feels so overwelmed in guilt so this leads me to think that he might only have brief moments of insanity where he just snaps and doesn't know what he is doing.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the first person narrative in this story makes it even more interesting! I like it and think that it adds to the suspense of the plot line. I think that by Poe writing in first person, it really makes the reader feel as if they are the one who is actually doing the actions in the story. While reading, I actually imagined and felt as if I were the one who was ever so slowly opening the door to the bedroom. In my mind, I pictured the blackness of the room, the anxiety of the heartbeat, and the terror or the eye. The first person narrative makes the reader feel empathetic to the character because they can relate to what he is doing and how he is feeling.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if he is mad or not… If he is mad, it would make sense as to why he felt that he needed to kill a man. Part of me thinks that he is not mad until the police arrive. HE was sane and functioning reasonably until he gets caught. I believe that after he killed the old man and felt guilty he went mad. He began hearing the heart beating, which I believe is where he went mad. I think that he really thought that there was a legitimate reason for him to kill the old man. He was so precise and calculated in the murder that I believe he was sane.