The Eye

Pg 138 ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’

“I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! 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, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.”

This is one of Poe’s darkest and most twisted quotes. Poe’s language lets us visualize the demons and hate that the character had. It displays how crazy Edgar Allen Poe is himself as no sane man could write something of this calibre. The narrator stated “I loved the old man”, but then at the same time wanting to kill him for an unattractive eye that was beyond the old man’s control. This arbitrary and unnatural hate showed glimpses of an unstable mind. He dismisses all of his love and good deeds because he is slightly disfigured. There has been debate over the topic that Edgar Allen Poe was himself insane and filled with hate. I would completely agree with this for no other person, other than a man who has thought something similar himself would be capable of writing something so fanatical.