Tell+Tale+Heart

=Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe=

//**This page is dedicated to understanding and analyzing the short story, A&P, using psychoanalytic theory as a lens for analysis. Please feel free to ask questions, answer questions or just post interpretations of the story. Mr. Riccuiti should be the only one editing information above the dividing line. Remember to click edit first, and then save after you're done posting your contribution. All of my contributions will be in italics.**//

Perfect story for October but can someone tell me what's up with the eye?! - The eye is his focus (because he is crazy). he watches it day and night to "focus on." When he can no longer see the eye, he hears the heart beat.

Yo Riccuiti, how would any logic (logos) squeeze into this story? Its not like he is explaining his methods for killing the old man, other than the fact that he is bat s**t crazy.

//Crazy is a relative term. According to Freud, we're all crazy, but most of us are good at hiding it in the unconscious. But the eye is clearly a portal, just like windows and doors. Usually a look into the unconscious. Maybe what is truly motivating him or just the guilt of it all. But I don't see how logos is relevant to this assignment. Unless, you are arguing logically how the repressed thoughts can manifest themselves in our waking lives. Could Poe be hiding something?// // Check this out! Poe Bio //

How is this for a thesis: Applying psychoanalytic theory to the behavior of the protagonist, the narrator reveals a connection through symbols to the murder of the old man to his unconscious mind. I feel that its too long, and that there's no clear thesis. :) Thnx

I am having trouble creating a thesis. Try to think of what you want to include

Well I was thinking along the same type of line as the person above where Poe is connecting the killing of the man to the protagonist's unconscious mind, but i do not where to go from that.

OMG thats me, well my idea is that the unconscious somewhat controls the old man, but I'm still working on that

Just like this.

//I think the question you need to be asking is: "What is going on in the narrator's unconscious mind that would cause him to kill the old man?" If you aren't going to connect the narrator to the author, then you need to try to make connections between the narrator and the old man. So much of psychology is about relationships. What kind of relationship exists between them? Do we have a lot of information? What kind of relationship might be "behind" the relationship we see? Meaning, what might be going on in the narrator's unconscious that might be influencing the relationship in the story?//

Do we need to cite and if we do, how do we do it because there's no page numbers?

===// are we analyzing Poe or the narrator for this thing? what i mean is am i giving a background on Poe as to why he would write something like this or am i analyzing the narrator for why he would kill the man then feel the eye and hear the heart and stuff...........PLEASE DON'T IGNORE ME //===

You choose one or the other, which ever you prefer to write about Riccuiti,did you get my email about the thesis?

// I'm not looking for a Works Cited page because the only source that you should be using is the actual short story. All psycho knowledge comes from your mind and my notes. If you choose to write about the connection between author and text, then the info you use about Poe will be considered common knowledge. There are no page numbers, so you only need to include the last name of the author when you use a direct quotation. "In the end, I know the story you are referencing, so even an internal citation isn't really necessary, but if it makes you feel better, then by all means keep it simple" (Riccuiti). //

Why does the narrator tries to developed ethos in the beginning of the story?

//I'm not sure if you would call it ethos in a fictional story. But yes, a narrator does need to establish credibility so that we trust him/her, but ethos, pathos and logos generally connect to persuasive forms of non-fiction, texts based in "reality." That's the area of rhetoric, which is usually not mixed with literature. However, the idea that the narrator has credibility is an interesting one. Does this narrator seem credible? Does the constant self-questioning about his sanity makes us doubt him? And if that's the case, then how does that connect to psychoanalytic theory?//