Poe's Short Stories
Tell tale heart
What is your first impression of the narrator? What does he try convincing the reader of? Does it work?
What is your first impression of the narrator? What does he try convincing the reader of? Does it work?
My first impression is that the narrator is completely unreliable if not mentally ill. His descriptions of himself and his loathings are exaggerated and manic,
"True! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story."