2. The Tell Tale Heart - Edgar Allen Poe
Written in 1843 by the Grand Daddy of macabre fiction - Edgar Allen Poe, The Tell Tale Heart is probably the most famous literary example of a mad man narrator. The relationship between the narrator and his victim is not clear. The narrator pleads with the reader to understand that he is not insane when he most blatantly is bonkers. He fixates upon his victim's supposedly 'vulture' like eye - he has to kill the man because of this even though he professes to love the man. He waits eight evenings before pouncing on the old man when he hears his heart beating with fear. There is a struggle but our narrator kills ol' Vulture Eye. However, his dying screams have alerted the neighbours and the police come a visiting. The narrator tells the police that the old man is abroad, the screams were his own and he invites them to look around. The narrator even has the audacity to put three chairs for policeman to sit on right on the spot where the old man is buried. He begins to hear strange sounds which he attributes to the old man's heart beating beneath the floor boards. The police don't seem to notice it but the narrator gets increasingly distressed by this 'sound', breaks down and confesses his guilt. The narrator of The Tell Tale Heart is pleading for understanding during the story and he maintains that he is not insane, he just has acute senses. The narrator does not deny that he is guilty of murder - he speaks quite openly about killing the old man, but he denies insanity. Lack of insight into one's actions is, to the contrary, a classic sign of insanity and our narrator is clearly barking. Hearing a dead man's heart beat from under the floor boards is a clear sign of outright insanity, no matter how acute your senses are. The story does a fantastic job of invoking immediacy and urgency in the reader. We don't question the mechanics of the killing, but the motives behind the killing make for a good debate. A very short, but brilliant portrait of madness by Edgar Allen Poe.