Topic: There was another conflict within your group members about the madness/ madnessless of the narrator. Some argued that the narrator was really a mad man, and others denied to state that he was not a mad man due to his perfect plan of killing the old man. What is your stance? Justify it!
Composed by Tran Thi Ngoc Thuy
In “The tell-tale heart”, the narrator- the murderer tells his own story about the action of killing an old man. Through his words as well as his action, some people argue that the narrator is really a mad man, and others deny to state that he is not a mad man. In my point of view, the narrator is not really a mad man because he has a careful as well as patient action of killing the old man and has the feelings or senses about his action.
First of all, the narrator has a careful action of killing the old man that proves that he is not really a mad man. Before murdering the old man, the narrator cares about the process of killing the old man. He tells “with what caution-with what foresight-with what dissimulation I went to work”. This shows how careful he is in carrying out his plan. Also, intentionally, he behaves well towards the old man. Every morning, the narrator often talks gently to the old man to check whether the old man has any doubt about his plan or not. After killing the old man, the narrator is very cautious about his process of hiding the dead body. He works hastily, but in silence so that no neighbor can hear anything. In addition, when the murderer cuts off the corpse and puts it down in the floor, there is not any clue of the deed he has done because “a tub had caught all”. Whether a mad man can do such things cleverly or not. Thus, these actions above make us cannot think that the narrator is really a mad man.
Besides having a careful action, the narrator has a patient deed of murdering the old man that proclaims he is not mad. Every night just at midnight, the narrator always waits persistently to fulfill his plan of killing the old man. He often spends a whole hour at night to see whether the old man sleeps or stays awake. He has done such action during seven long nights. How persistent the narrator is! Furthermore, when the old man springs up in bed and asks, “Who’s there?”, the narrator keeps still and says nothing. He stands silently and patiently in the dark and waits for a long time. It shows that the narrator has great patience in waiting to carry out his plan. Therefore, a mad man will have no enough patience as the narrator has.
The last reason verifies that the narrator is not really a mad man is that he has feelings or senses about his action of killing the old man. The initial feeling we can see clearly about the narrator is that he feels nervous “True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am” when he retells the story. The next sense came to him is the calm feeling while reporting the story. He tells the readers to observe how healthily and how calmly he has when telling the whole story. What’s more, the narrator hears the sound comes to his ears “a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”. After the police officers come in the house for searching, the narrator’s head ache and this sound steadily increases within his mind. He perceives that “it grew louder-louder-louder”. If the narrator is a mad man, can such feelings disturb his mind increasingly? It is true that he still has the feelings about his crime and his agony, so he is not really a mad man.
In short, Edgar Allan Poe described a character that causes many arguments such as knowing no name, no sex as well as madness or not. Some people say the narrator is really a mad man, some argue that he is not. Basing on the great care and patience in his action as well as the feelings having about his deed, we can see that the narrator is not really a mad man. Whether a mad man can give us the meaningful story or not? Therefore, we must look at deeply the whole matter to give comment instead of the aspect of it.
First of all, the narrator has a careful action of killing the old man that proves that he is not really a mad man. Before murdering the old man, the narrator cares about the process of killing the old man. He tells “with what caution-with what foresight-with what dissimulation I went to work”. This shows how careful he is in carrying out his plan. Also, intentionally, he behaves well towards the old man. Every morning, the narrator often talks gently to the old man to check whether the old man has any doubt about his plan or not. After killing the old man, the narrator is very cautious about his process of hiding the dead body. He works hastily, but in silence so that no neighbor can hear anything. In addition, when the murderer cuts off the corpse and puts it down in the floor, there is not any clue of the deed he has done because “a tub had caught all”. Whether a mad man can do such things cleverly or not. Thus, these actions above make us cannot think that the narrator is really a mad man.
Besides having a careful action, the narrator has a patient deed of murdering the old man that proclaims he is not mad. Every night just at midnight, the narrator always waits persistently to fulfill his plan of killing the old man. He often spends a whole hour at night to see whether the old man sleeps or stays awake. He has done such action during seven long nights. How persistent the narrator is! Furthermore, when the old man springs up in bed and asks, “Who’s there?”, the narrator keeps still and says nothing. He stands silently and patiently in the dark and waits for a long time. It shows that the narrator has great patience in waiting to carry out his plan. Therefore, a mad man will have no enough patience as the narrator has.
The last reason verifies that the narrator is not really a mad man is that he has feelings or senses about his action of killing the old man. The initial feeling we can see clearly about the narrator is that he feels nervous “True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am” when he retells the story. The next sense came to him is the calm feeling while reporting the story. He tells the readers to observe how healthily and how calmly he has when telling the whole story. What’s more, the narrator hears the sound comes to his ears “a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”. After the police officers come in the house for searching, the narrator’s head ache and this sound steadily increases within his mind. He perceives that “it grew louder-louder-louder”. If the narrator is a mad man, can such feelings disturb his mind increasingly? It is true that he still has the feelings about his crime and his agony, so he is not really a mad man.
In short, Edgar Allan Poe described a character that causes many arguments such as knowing no name, no sex as well as madness or not. Some people say the narrator is really a mad man, some argue that he is not. Basing on the great care and patience in his action as well as the feelings having about his deed, we can see that the narrator is not really a mad man. Whether a mad man can give us the meaningful story or not? Therefore, we must look at deeply the whole matter to give comment instead of the aspect of it.
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