Edgar Allan Poe
Hardcover | Pages: 54 pages Rating: 4.23 | 54479 Users | 1899 Reviews
Particularize Books During The Tell-Tale Heart
| Original Title: | The Tell-Tale Heart |
| ISBN: | 0871917726 (ISBN13: 9780871917720) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Chronicle To Books The Tell-Tale Heart
Published in 1850, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart is one of the best known and most memorable short stories ever written. Since there are dozens of commentaries and reviews here and elsewhere on the internet, in the spirit of freshness, I will take a particular focus: obsession with an eye or eyes and compare Poe’s tale with a few others.
In The Painter of Eyes by Jean Richepin, we encounter an obscure artist who sells his soul to the Devil in order to paint at least one masterpiece. There is a bit of writing attached to the corner of his great painting that reads: “The Devil has informed me as to the secret of painting eyes. That secret consists of decanting the life from the models one wishes to represent and fixing that life on the canvas. In doing that, one slowly kills the people whose portrait one paints. It is sufficient for me to know that I have made this masterpiece. I commend my soul to the prayers, in case the Evil One does not leave me the time.” The writing ends abruptly since death strikes the artist in mid-sentence - his masterpiece is a self-portrait.
In The Gaze another story by Jean Richepin, the narrator peers through the window of a cell at a madman holding his arms spread, head uplifted, transfixed by a point on a wall near the ceiling. The doctor-alienist relates to the narrator how this inmate is obsessed with the gaze of eyes from an artist's portrait. "For there was something in that gaze, believe me, that could trouble not only the already-enfeebled brain of a man afflicted with general paralysis, but even a sound and solid mind." Turns out, the narrator discovers the doctor is also driven mad by these eyes. So much so, the doctor took a scissors to the painting. We read: “In front of me, a fragment of a painting, cut out of a canvas with scissors, showed me a pair of eyes: the eyes of the portrait that the alienist said that he had lacerated, the eyes darting that famous gaze – in which, indeed, the very soul of gold was alive.”
The Enigmatic Eye by Moacyr Scliar is a most imaginative tale of a wealthy old man who becomes infatuated with a portrait of an aristocratic gentleman in the town’s museum. And what makes this portrait so infatuating? Why, of course – the gaze of the right eye, which is truly enigmatic. The old man has his close friend steal the portrait from the museum so he can put it in his attic and sit in front of the painting, pondering the enigmatic gaze round the clock. The servants think the old man mad but he could care less – he has exactly what he wants – the portrait with its enigmatic eye right in his very own attic. Unfortunately, something unexpected happens. Due to the attic’s heat and light, the painting begins to fade and then, over time, vanishes. The old man concludes there is only one thing for him to do – he buys some brushes and oils and begins re-painting the portrait, starting with the enigmatic eye.
Turning now to Poe’s tale, the narrator insists he should not be taken for a madman; rather, he is dreadfully nervous causing his senses, especially his sense of hearing, to be heightened and sharpened. He goes on to convey how once the idea of killing the old man of the house entered his brain, he was haunted by the idea day and night. And why would he want to kill this old man, a man who never wronged him? We read, “I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture – a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” What is it about a human eye, painted or real, when seen by someone who is mentally unstable? Perhaps part of the answer is given by contemporary Argentine author, Ernesto Sabato, when he says that hell is being the object of the gaze of another.
Every one of Poe’s sentence is sheer perfection, building tension and suspense. For example, we read how the narrator, lantern in hand, secretly peers in at the sleeping old man at midnight. But then, one night, a noise wakes the old man and he sits bolt upright in bed. And what does the narrator do? We read, “I resolved to open a little – a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it – you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily – until, at length a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye. It was open – wide, wide open – and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness – all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow of my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.”
Anybody familiar with the story knows the narrator’s actions and emotions escalate from this point. What I find particularly fascinating is how the narrator’s obsession and fixation with the eye, once there is no more eye to fixate upon, quickly shifts into a heightened sense of feeling and, of course, heightened hearing. What a tale; what an author – a masterpiece of suspense and horror.
*The quotes from the two tales by Jean Richepin are taken from The Crazy Corner a collection of stories translated by Brian Stableford and published by Black Coat Press.
Details Out Of Books The Tell-Tale Heart
| Title | : | The Tell-Tale Heart |
| Author | : | Edgar Allan Poe |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 54 pages |
| Published | : | 1998 by Books of Wonder (first published 1843) |
| Categories | : | Classics. Short Stories. Horror. Fiction. Gothic. Academic. School. Mystery |
Rating Out Of Books The Tell-Tale Heart
Ratings: 4.23 From 54479 Users | 1899 ReviewsCrit Out Of Books The Tell-Tale Heart
Well... shit.Loved it. Short and sweet but not lacking in suspense and downright creepiness. I'll hold my hands up and admit that this English Lit lover first heard of this story through The Simpsons. Sacrilege I know, but I guess it never made it on to the syllabus at my school. So I sort of knew how it would turn out, but still there's so much to consider here, I can see why it's a popular choice for study.And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense? Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale HeartOne of the most unforgettable short stories. Scary as anything too even reading it today. I picked this book to do a report on in my college literature class.I am sure most have read it but if not..do it now! A great little masterpiece and just writing this is making me want to read it all over again!
What a quick little stab of the macabre this tale is! It's a classic example of the unreliable narrator, who tries desperately to convince the reader of his sanity even as he stalks, kills, dismembers, and buries an old man for no other reason than that the man's eye "resembled that of a vulture." Of course the harder he tries to convince the reader of his sanity, the more insane you realize he is: "You should have seen how wisely I proceeded--with what caution--what what foresight--with what
Typical Poe.He is so descriptive, yet we don't actually know much about the narrator.I think he's Poe himself.
p, is for Poe 4 Stars Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded with what caution with what foresight with what dissimulation I went to work!I have read A Tell-Tale Heart half a dozen times in my life and at every re-reading I am struck anew with Poes genius, he is one of the few writers I have ever come across who can entirely foreshadow a novel (or in this case short story) and yet still evoke emotion
I read this in English class about two days ago, and at that moment, I realized what true writing talent was.Its a beautiful story.Haunted story.Ive never read that much of Edgar Allen Poes work, but snaps for him, cause at the end, my whole class went speechless. This is a story where at the beginning, you really know what the hell is bloody going on , but by the end, everything ties together.Everything. A truly captivating story starring a madman.:)
Edgar Allan Poes very short story from 1843 still packs a punch.A narrator of unknown age, gender, and relationship to an old man, defends their own sanity, as they explain how they planned his murder - a man who they say has never harmed them, and whose death would not profit them. Nor do we know if theyre talking to themself, a psychiatrist, God, the police, or unimagined readers, more than 150 years later. The only reason given for the killing taps into the sort of fears many of us have in
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