Question

Compare and contrast the narrator’s point of view at the befining to the end of the story. Note any difference and the possible causes behind these differences. The tell tale heart

Answer 1

The Tell-Tale Heart is one of the shortest stories Edgar Allan Poe penned down, yet it remains a classic.  

As in most of his work, Poe employs the first person point of view, in which the narrator tells the story using the first person pronoun “I” and thus closes the gap between the reader and the characters.

First person narration is subjective, we as an audience are brought into the biased point of view of the narrator, and this is why it is also known as an ”unreliable narrator” – as opposed to the “omniscient narrator” who knows and sees everything and uses the third person point of view.

In this story, the narrator is unreliable by nature, a mad narrator that cannot tell the story objectively because he justifies his actions throughout the text.  

The very first sentence hints at this:

• “TRUE! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? (…) Harken! and observe how healthily — how calmly I can tell you the whole story.”

We don’t even find out his name by the end of the story. It begins in media res, meaning in the middle of a conversation between the unreliable narrator and an unnamed character. He starts out very confident, stressing how calmly he can tell us what happened, trying to get us to trust him. Throughout the story he tries to reassure us that he is of a sound mind, that an insane person couldn't possibly plot a murder and the disposal of the body in such detail --

• "If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body."

He blames his very vaguely described disease for his impulsiveness that leads him to commit a murder  which he by the end he confesses by blurting it out:

• “"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"”

His paranoia drives him to confession and the story ends rather abruptly there.

Answer 2

"TRUE!—NERVOUS—VERY, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am  mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I  mad? "

To be able to see the contrast of the narrator's point of view, it is necessary to check the beginning of the story. Here thee author gives a definition of the character. He defines and sets the story. It is important to remember that one of the characteristics in Poe's stories is the use of anxiety, preoccupation and terror. Probably from Poe´s own experience or personal life.

"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 all and continually increased. It grew louder—louder—louder! And  still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They  heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror"

In this part of the story the contrast from what he defined at the beginning as a "blessing" . He was able to see and hear everything, but it was precisely this "ability" what transported him to a terrible situation of anxiety and horror, which led him to confess the crime that he had committed