by Tricia Psarreas Murray

Created on: June 23, 2009   Last Updated: June 24, 2009

The Evil Eye Versus the Evil I

When considering the literary works that delve into the darkest recesses of the human mind, there was perhaps no greater writer than Edgar Allan Poe. Equal parts genius and madman, Poe exposed the basest human truths in a way that chilled his readers to their very cores. Even more frightening than his hints of the supernatural was his ability to crawl through the minds of previously good men who progressively lost their minds. The narrators in Poe's tales of madness tend to share a common element of self-deceit. They rationalize their behaviors by blaming their immoral actions on outside sources, such as the "evil eye", when the true evil lies within themselves. Though the narrators never view their defining actions as immoral, it is apparent that their sinful acts are subconsciously committed in attempts to expel the evil that tarnished their souls. This is especially evident when examining Poe's greatest tales of madness, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat."

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is about a narrator who went to great lengths to murder an elderly man who was apparently plagued by cataracts. The old man's eye became such a burden for the narrator that he spent an entire week waiting for the moment when he could strike. He spent that time stalking the old man and waiting, but he could never bring himself to commit the act. The narrator stated, "...but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye" (Poe 303). This changed one night while the narrator stuck to the shadows of the old man's room, while the old man laid awake in terror. That night, "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" (Poe 305). Once the old man was completely consumed with horror, the narrator leapt out and murdered him. When the old man's heart stopped beating and his pale blue eye closed for the final time, the narrator proceeded to dismember his body. He lifted three floorboards and placed the remains inside, covering all evidence of his crime. Later that day, the police came to investigate the old man's shriek that was reported and the narrator deceived them as much as he had deceived the old man. He essentially got away with murder until he was given away by the one person who knew the truth: himself.

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