Madness and the Subsequent Dismal Ending Within “The Tell-Tale Heart” our unnamed Narrator displays many qualities of madness, which inevitably lead to his dismal ending. The Narrator shows symptoms of madness through his seemingly unprovoked malice towards the old man he had claimed to have no quarrel with. After appearing to be caught by police in an exert from the opening of the chronicle, the Narrator attempts to prove his sanity; “but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses – not dulled them. .
He turns himself into the cops because he believes he hears the man’s heart beating through the wooden floor that he was buried in. Madness has truly overtaken the narrator throughout the story as the never-ending struggle to end a man’s life becomes an obsession that guilt overcomes. One major aspect to prove the narrator as completely mad is the way he describes his feelings toward the old man. When talking about his eye, Poe explains “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, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” (Poe 413) He is admitting to wanting to take someone’s life only because he cannot stand the sight of something physically unappealing in this innocent old man. He waits quietly for the old man to sleep so that he can kill him, however the old man’s eye is always closed, so there is no ill feeling towards him.
The preparation used by the narrator to murder the old man is crazy in itself. “For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!” the unnamed narrator said this when explaining his reason for killing the helpless elderly man. Throughout The Tell-Tale Heart the narrator shows his insanity several times by making statements expressing the only reason he wants to kill the elderly man is his” vulture” eye. Gruesomely murdering the old man because his eye was a psychotic action to take by the narrator, especially when the elder was nothing but kind and generous to the unnamed man.
He is portrayed as vicious to readers by the way he looks, what he says, and what Rainsford says to him. Its Zaroff’s looks that make him appear brutal. Initially Zaroff gives an appearance of a proper gentleman; well-educated and well-mannered, but his dark eyes, military moustache, and strong face make it obviously that he is a forceful leader and firm military general. Zaroff has an “almost bizarre quality about [his] face.” The stark contrast between his “vivid white” hair and his dark “thick eyebrows” depict a strange madness in his looks. Just like a wicked vampire, his “red lips and pointed teeth” reveal his real personality.
He is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of Othello, Desdemona, Emilia, Cassio, and Roderigo, which happen to be all of the main characters. All of the problems he causes are through lies, treachery, manipulation, and a deep unknown hate. Some of this hate is fuelled by jealousy and revenge. The ironic part is that he wants to be known as "honest Iago". Every act contains an evil plot set up by Iago.
Most readers make a superficial assessment of two of the central characters: Iago and Othello. Analysis by its very nature requires one to reject the simple and convenient. It is a fact that Iago is a villainous man and a vital part of the tragedy this play becomes but he is not the real villain. Deeper consideration, coupled with an open mind, shows the truth, Othello is the actual villain. While lacking in malice of forethought he nonetheless allows himself to attain the status of murderer because he is conceited, jealous and emotionally dishonest.
This sadness Hamlet feels, makes him question his own life in his famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy. The murder of Claudius is his ultimate revenge, but before doing so Hamlet must deal with the incestuous activity that occurred between his mother and his uncle. Hamlets plot for revenge on Claudius is furthered as he realizes that after the death of his father, King Hamlet, Claudius and his mother quickly got married. Hamlet is so frustrated with his mother and her actions, that he yells, “frailty thy name is woman!” (Shakespeare Act I scene II). His hate for women is furthered as seen in his treatment toward Ophelia later on during the play.
Dr. Roylott is presented a scary, unwanted man. This is found when Helen Stoner describes her father ‘he became the terror of the village’. The adjective ‘terror’ shows that he causes not just unrest within his village, but has manipulated the village through his actions and words to fear him. The fact that he has caused this, shows that he thrives off negative energy. This makes the reader feel sad as they realise that his confidence and happiness will grow as Sherlock hits setbacks and emits negative energy, which will dampen Holmes’s spirits.
However, during his vengeful acts against the two families, Heathcliff becomes even more dark and unhappy inside. While he truly believes that revenge will justify his existence, he is actually making himself more miserable than Hindley ever did. What is Bronte, then, saying about revenge and it’s manifestations in Wuthering Heights? Is it possible that Heathcliff’s search for revenge actually hastened along his death? Thesis Statement / Essay
The horrific and irrational sins of the father haunt his son Theodore, who despite the illusions of liberty, finds himself in a tragic fate leading to repetition of the past. He drowns himself in the state of melancholy and due to father‘s strange death seeks for peace in religion. Ultimately, he begins to hear voices in his head that provokes him to do horrific things to his familiy. The role of the Gothic in this book is to metaphorically implement the horrible tendency within a generation, when son realizes his transformation to his father. Moreover, in order to highlight the picture, unnatural voices and mysterious events are added.