Tell tale heart essay essay sample

Prompt: Sometimes a conflict that appears to be external emerges, on closer examination, as an internal struggle. Explain this concept in your story.  In literary works, there is always an obstacle between the protagonist and their task. Usually, that interference is an internal or external struggle between the protagonist himself, or other individuals in society. “ The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe suggests that external conflict, can often turn into internal struggle when more closely examined. This idea is portrayed when we see the protagonists struggle between himself and the old man’s vexed eye. As the story progresses, the conflict between the protagonist and the beating heart renders the idea of the narrator versus himself.

The external struggle within the story seems to be the narrator’s conflict with the old man. The protagonist loved the old man, eliminating motives that might normally inspire such a violent murder. As he proclaims his own sanity, the narrator fixates on the old man’s vulture­eye. “ It was open ­­wide, wide open ­­and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness ­­all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones.