The Tell-Tale Heart Dominant Reading by Anh Luu

The American society during the 1800s probably wouldnt have thought
much of mental illness, most likely because at the time social order was in
a state of chaos. It was regarded as something petty or unimportant so it
was easily overlooked.
Since the dominant religion at the time was Christianity, it was much
easier to accept the belief that the mentally insane were possessed by
demons or by supernatural forces. This was because there wasnt much
knowledge about the state of the human mind at the time. Treatment
consisted of various tortures such as whipping, shock treatment and being
isolated or confined for life.
Object there was none. Passion there was none. 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!
As we can see, there doesnt seem to be any obvious motive as to why the
narrator would kill the old man other than the fact that he had a vultures
eye. To the believers of Christianity at the time, this would be the work of
a demon that had possessed the narrator. The study of the mind hadnt
reached its peak yet, so the possibility that the narrator would murder the
old man of his own accord probably wouldnt have crossed the minds of
the believers.
Either way, the American public wouldve looked down on the crime of
murdering someone, and if there were a trial, no one would even consider
the possibility of the culprit being in a state of paranoid psychosis as an
excuse to murder someone.
He had the eye 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.
They wouldve seen the murder as the taking of an innocent life and as
such, the sentencing of the insane culprit would most likely be the same
as any other criminal. Crime was a big concern because at the time
America was reforming its social order, so worries of murders were
increasing.
It is also quite possible that the people would fear the story itself, because
the genre was quite unheard of. The story introduced previously hidden
levels of human psychology and borders on the genre of horror and/or
fantasy while maintaining a realistic outlook from the narrators
perspective.
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. The night waned,
and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I
cut off the head and the arms and the legs.
In particular, the narrator may cause some distress to the reader because
of way he is portrayed in the story. He tries desperately to prove his
sanity, including every intricate detail from the days prior to the old mans
murder. In the 1800s, the mentally ill were often neglected, feared and
mistreated. Often they werent even regarded as being human, hence the
fact that the narrator killed the old man in a fit derangement may cause

many to fear him because in their eyes it wasnt within the realm of
possibility.
The American society during the 1800s used strange beliefs to explain
what couldnt be explained and they didnt have a strong understanding of
the science behind the human mind. Therefore, they probably couldnt
really relate to or understand the state that the narrator was in. The
majority of people wouldve simply accepted the Christian belief that the
narrator was forced to take anothers life against his will, or believed that
he was just a regular criminal trying to gain some fame during the social
reform.