In the wise words of Judith Viorst in her beloved story Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, sooner or later, everyone experiences a terrible day Avery’s bad day feels a lot like sinking in quicksand. Most people make it through the quicksand of a very bad day relatively unscathed and find themselves in the joyful midst of a new day However, what happens to those individuals who never quite make it out of the quicksand? What happens to the people who lose their grasp on that brighter tomorrow, and consequently sink down into the quicksand, deeper and deeper until the sunshine can no longer penetrate? Unfortunately for those individuals, depression is the usual result.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator experiences this same internal conflict, As he struggles through an eerie setting, an intricate plot, and the symbolic torment of the “evil” eye and heart, he grapples with the desire to die but ends up wanting to liver The eerie setting sets the stage for deeper interpretation The fact that the majority of the story takes place in a bedroom suggests that the story is actually a dream Out of all the places in a home, the bedroom is usually the most personal; it is no small coincidence that the story almost exclusively takes place here Besides being a place of relaxation and solitude, the bedroom is first and foremost the location of rest.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” our first big indicator that this story is actually a dream is when the narrator personifies Death while simultaneously referring to himself as if the narrator and Death are one. This establishes that the dream is a death wish, and since the story is actually a dream, this means that everything the narrator experiences is a reflection of internal desires, In addition, earlier in that same paragraph, the old man makes a sound of “mortal terrors” The narrator goes on to say that he knows that sound very well, as many nights he makes the exact same sound. This means that the old man is connected to the narrator in some way.
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Most likely, the old man is the only real character in this story, which means he is the narrator. In real life, it is likely that he is quite old, and very possibly suffering from a variety of disheartening ailments, including cataracts, social isolation, depression, and overall senility. Without a strong support group, many people can easily slip into a horrific mindset, one in which death oftentimes seems like the best way out. The plot holes of “The Tell-Tale Heart” are confusing, and in that confusion, the narrator’s struggle with death is revealed, The story’s numerous plot holes are one of the most interesting aspects of “The Tell—Tale Heart”. The narrator mentions the old man’s heart four different times, each time claiming to be able to hear its beating—even after the narrator has dismembered the old man’s body and shoved it under the floorboards.
Another note-worthy anomaly is the way the narrator insists that there was zero bloodshed. As the narrator put it, “there was nothing to wash out—no stain of any kind—no bloodspot whatsoever”. For a killing as mutilating as the one the narrator performed, it would be virtually impossible for a single drop of blood to not get anywhere, A third anomaly occurs in the last three paragraphs of the story, when the narrator explains how he foamed from the mouth, raved, swore, swung his chair around, and even dragged it on the floor, yet the officers continued to “chat pleasantly and smile”. In real life, no officers would continue to chat pleasantly and smile with a man foaming from the mouth, cursing, and dragging his chair across the floor.
Altogether, the intricate, wildly unrealistic plot of “The TelleTale Heart” lead readers to doubt the face value of the story being told, Plot holes are only one element of the story that help the reader decipher the narrator’s journeyt Two more elements, the eye and the heart, help reflect the narrator’s true journey, which is the struggle between wanting to live and wanting to die. The eye is the most stressed symbol throughout the story, and for good reason: It alone represents what the narrator refers to as “the disease“, which can be interpreted as old age. Since the old man is dreaming, he is experiencing what experts call “wish fulfillment,” where an individual subconsciously experiences something they think they desire.
The old man is old, sick, and likely suffering. He has consciously come to the conclusion that death is his best option, but through his dream, his subconscious plays out a scenario where Death successfully kills the old man, which consequently lends him a realistic picture of what dying would actually be like The second most stressed symbol in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is straight from the novel’s title—the heart. Every time it appears, the narrator distinctly focuses on its beating.
In the last three paragraphs of the story, the old man’s heart is ultimately what causes the narrator to experience a complete breakdown, This breakdown can be interpreted as the ending of the old man‘s dream, where his subconscious mind just experienced death and is having to fight against itself in an attempt to figure out if death is really what he desires after all. At the end, the narrator‘s distraught episode is centered around the ever-beating heart, symbolizing his newfound lease on life. The symbolism scattered throughout “The Tell-Tale Heart“ plays a huge role in helping readers decipher the meaning of the narrator’s dream.
Although “The Tell»Tale Heart” was written in the nineteenth century, its theme is timeless, allowing today’s readers to relate and stay intrigued by the story’s deeper meaning long after the story cuts ends. Poe‘s uneasy choice of setting, combined with his “Chex Mix” of a plot and prominent symbolism, eventually do collide into one elaborate story, which often cannot help but leave the reader questioning what exactly happens to the old man after the story cuts off. Although “The Tale-Tale Heart” is infamously known as a twisted classic from the Gothic fiction genre, this interpretation of the story can actually help those struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts by subconsciously planting a seed in readers that says life is precious and always worth fighting for.
