Yuri Arevalo Rhetoric 24 Apr. 2002 In the Mind of a Sick Man           In "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe, the protagonist is an insane man who kills his roommate because he cannot stand to look at his blind eye which reminds him of a vulture's eye.  He believes and tries to convince readers he is sane and that he knows what he is doing all along.  He feels victimized by the terror his roommate's eye caused him and justifies his actions.            The protagonist portrays himself as a victim.  He claims, "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" (Poe 242).  He blames the eye for making him sick.  People with mental illnesses may view someone or something as an enemy and feel the need to protect themselves.  Consequently, they often opt for violence.  In this case, the protagonist views the eye as something evil because it makes him sick.  He feels the need to get it out of his sight.  Because he is mentally ill, he doesn't think his actions are wrong.  He brags about how he carried out his homicide plan.  Brett Zimmeran explains, "What we might call perfidiously, he calls wisely; what we might call sneakiness, he calls caution; what we might call scheming, he calls foresight; what we might call treacherously, he calls cunningly."           He shows signs of sadism, a mental illness.  He receives pleasure from having caused his friend pain and suffering.  He said, "To think that there I was opening the door little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.  I fairly chuckled at the idea" (Poe 243).  A normal person would not chuckle at the idea of murdering someone.  He goes on to say, "I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him although I chuckled at heart" (244).  This means the pleasure of killing him meant more than anything to him.  He coldly mentions what his inner voice told him.  He states, "I thought the heart must burst" (245).  He talks about how proud he felt after murdering the man.  He said, "In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him.  I then smiled gaily to find the deed so far done" (246).  He feels happy to finally end the man's life so that he will never have to see his eye again.  He does not feel any remorse.  His friend's life had not mattered to him.           Soon, the police arrive and do not find anything out of the ordinary, but he hallucinates, hearing the dead man's heart which in real life was not functioning anymore.  He said, "My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears; but still they [the police] chatted.  The ringing became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling; but it continued. I found that the noise was NOT within my ears" (Poe 247).  He does not reason that when a person dies, the heart stops, causing the beating to end.           He also shows anxiety.  After he thought he heard the man's heart beating, he said, "No doubt I grew VERY pale, but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice" (247).  He tried to disregard the noise worrying and frightening him, but it continued.  He begged, "O God!  What COULD I do?  I foamed -- I raved I swore!  I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over" (247).  As he heard the beating louder, he speculated the police officers who had come to check if there was trouble in the house could hear it also.  Anxiously, he said "Almighty God! -- no, no?  They heard!  They suspected!- -they KNEW!- -they were making a mockery of my horror" (248).  He feels trapped.           John S. Leggitt and Raymond W. Gibbs Jr. explain, "When a mentally ill person's goal for self preservation is threatened, the individual will feel fear and then stop the current plan."  The protagonist fears the officers already know about the murder.  Since he feels very confused about whether they know or not, and because the heart's beating would not disappear, he decides to confess.  He stresses (248), "But anything was better than this agony!  Anything was more tolerable than this derision!  I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt I must scream or die!"  Furthermore, he continues, "Villians!  Dissemble no more! I admit the deed!- -tear up the planks  here, here!  it is the beating of his hideous heart" (248).           All through the story, the protagonist tries to convince readers he is not insane, but his actions do not support his claim of a healthy mind.  He shows symptoms of a mentally ill person.  First, he excuses himself.  He believes he has a valid reason for killing the man.  The truth is that it is not rational to kill someone, regardless of any reason.  Then, he receives pleasure from the pain he caused.  He brags about committing the perfect crime.  The hallucination of hearing a person's heart beating when the man is already dead indicates that something is wrong with his brain.           What Poe reveals in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is the insane do not know right from wrong.  Therefore, when they commit crimes, their actions are justified in their minds.  What a normal person may call crime, an insane person may call a problem solver.  The story reveals that a mentally ill person's intelligence may remain normal. In this case, the protagonist knew what he had to do in order to murder his victim; however, his emotions and actions lack a sense reason. Sources Cited Leggitt, John S., and Raymond W. Gibbs Jr. "Emotional Reactions to Verbal Irony." 22 Apr.           2002 <http://ehostvgwl17.epnet.com/fulltext.asp?resultSetId=r00000040&hitNum=8>. Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Tell-Tale Heart." 22 Apr. 2002 <http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/p/           pd-modeng-idx?type=HTML&rgn=DIVO&54207348>. Zimmerman, Bret. "Frantic Forensic Oratory: Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart.'" 22 Apr. 2002           <http://ehostvgw17.epnet.com/get_xml.asp?booleamTerm=%22Tell%2dTale%2dHeart>.