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Outline For The Tell Tale Heart Research Paper

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Essay Outline: “The Tell-Tale Heart”
Introduction:
The outside frame of reference for the text includes an awareness of a new disease at the time called “Moral Insanity”.
I want to prove that the narrator suffers from multiple mental disorders as opposed to just one. the narrator shows many different symptoms for mental disorders throughout the short story.
“The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them.” (Poe 1)
Thesis: The tell tale heart uses dialogue and tone to convey a protagonist that suffers from not one, but many different mental disorders, ranging from antisocial personality disorder, to paranoid schizophrenia.
Evidence and Support:
The narrator of the story suffers from antisocial personality disorder.
“Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph.” (Poe 1) …show more content…

would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked)” (Poe 1)
“The morally insane man might be rational, might realize that those around him would condemn his behavior, but he himself would not”.(Bynum 2)
The narrator is narcissistic while talking about the murder as if there was nothing wrong with the fact he murdered an old man. On top of that he believes that he is inferior to the old man.
The protagonist of the story is a sadomasochist, deriving pleasure from murdering the old man.
“ Imbedded in the tale is the psychological journey of an egocentric who derives pleasure from cruelty.” (Hollie

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