Introduction
When reading the dark, mysterious, and even twisted lines of Edgar Allen Poe, most people do not realize that Poe’s work is heavily influenced by its historical surroundings. The text was written during the Romantic era when people were highly interested in literature related to macabre, gothic, and supernatural. Also, the author of the text Edgar Allen Poe was born in a time of significant economic and social changes within America, which were highly likely to have influenced his work. In this analysis, I will explain the context of Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart,” published in 1833. I will review the significant historical events, especially those highly relevant to the story. This story can only be fully understood by paying extra consideration to the cultural and historical context when it was written. The blend of ideas relating to psychological realism, science fiction, and horror reflects the ideas and views of his time. While this text is undoubtedly a literary masterpiece, it is packed with historical aspects and contexts in which the story was written, deepening its true meaning.
One of the significant historical aspects of Poe’s “A Tell Tale Heart” is that it is a prime example of the American Gothic literature movement. In American Gothic literature, some key features included the use of supernatural characters, the adoption of psychological terror, featuring eerie and dark settings, and an exploration of the dark aspects of human nature. In the story “A Tell Tale Heart,” these critical elements are evident when Poe includes dark and gloomy settings, for instance, in the old man’s room, the sense of the narrator’s madness, and the use of terror to create horror. Poe uses some elements of the grotesque. For instance, he describes the old man’s eye as resembling a vulture’s. In the article by Goode, pg. 49, the authors examine the American Gothic movement and illustrate how it fits Poe’s story and the movement historically. For instance, Goode, pg. 49 notes that Gothic characters tend to be haunted by some form of deep-seated social and historical dilemmas. This is evident in the story from the first-person narrative, where the author creates some form of claustrophobia which plays a crucial role in improving the unsettled environment. The story focuses on the feelings and thoughts of the narrator, who tends to lose his grip on reality slowly. This is a critical reflection of the characters’ psychological themes, often evident in gothic literature. This illustrates how Poe’s story is an essential example of American Gothic literature based on its haunting imagery, exploration of the darker aspects of human nature, and psychological depth.
In addition, Poe’s story was also affected by the asylum reforms of the period he was writing. For instance, Shen, pg. 321, notes that Poe’s tale tended to convey the moral state of the society and was reacting to the cultural context of his time (Shen, pg. 321). It is important to note that during the 1930s, a significant movement was related to reforming mental institutions and creating better care for the mentally ill. Some critics claim that Poe was exclusively inspired by the debate on mental illness and the issues affecting mentally ill people in society (Shen, pg. 321). The story, for instance, was focused on the inner thoughts and feelings of the narrator, which slowly reveal the narrator’s madness throughout the story indicating a critical interest in psychiatry and psychology. Shen, pg. 325 argues that Poe’s story reflects the debate of insanity, especially by exploring the psychological torment experienced by the narrator. Through this, Poe raised questions about mental illness and the limits of human reasoning. At the same time Shen, pg. 340 indicates how the tale raised important ethical questions on the relationship between a person and society. Within the story, there is a crucial emphasis on the narrator’s isolation and inability to connect with other people, indicating the major social problem of disconnection and alienation. According to Shen, pg. 345 this story critiques a society that has failed to provide essential and meaningful connections among its members. Overall, it is evident that Poe’s tale represents the complex interplay of ethics, aesthetics, and psychology, which are important issues and factors evident within society when the text was written.
Another historical aspect of Poe’s piece is its traces of Romanticism, a prominent literary trend in the story’s period. Romanticism was mainly based on the ideas of emotion, individualism, and imagination, which are evident in the story. Though Poe’s story is considered primarily American Gothic, there are traces of Romanticism in “A Tell-Tale Heart,” a prominent literary trend at the time. In the text “Romanticism In The North American Short Story” by Auñón, pg. 283, the author describes how Romanticism is evident in Poe’s text. For instance, the author focuses on the inner functioning of the human mind and emotions with the story being told from the first-person narrative. The narrator is driven to madness by his fear and guilt, and his psychological state is evaluated in detail by Poe, where he highlights the emotions and the internal experiences of conflicts in his mind. At the same time, Romanticism is evident through symbolism, where several symbols are used throughout the story (Auñón, pg. 290). For instance, the old man’s eye represents his guilt and fear, while the narrator’s conscience is illustrated using the beating of the heart beneath the floorboards. Using supernatural and mysterious illustrations tends to show some form of Romanticism. For instance, the narrator’s mental illness creates some sense of otherworldliness, which is often evident in romantic literature.
Further, the story is an example of the groundbreaking development of American short stories in literature. The story played a critical role in popularizing the short story forms within the US, which influenced other writers to follow in similar footsteps. In a discourse analysis of Alsahafi, pg. 13 describes how the short story became literary in the 19th century when many readers sought these stories. With the shift from oral, written form to printing as it became sufficiently cheap, magazines were developed within the marketplace for writers. Poe, in his story, played a critical role by publishing stories and other works of literature. The short story is tightly focused on the mind’s inner workings as it grapples with its inner madness and guilt. Poe focused on the character’s motivations and psychology, which indicated some form of departure from the existing narratives available in American literature earlier. This story helped establish the short story as a new form of literary writing which suited the exploration of the human psyche. According to Boddy, pg. 5 one of the critical characteristics of American short stories was the use of first-person narration, which helped in putting the reader in direct contact with the thoughts and feelings of the narrator. This was very important as many subsequent writers in this genre, such as Raymond Carver, adopted this same style. At the same time, horror and suspense were helpful ways of establishing different elements of American short stories. Poe pioneered this by using horror and suspense to explore the darker aspects of human nature to create a sense of unease for the readers. Overall, it is evident that this story played a critical role in developing the American short story by focusing on psychology and using first-person narration. Readers were able to finish the stories in one sitting, and the writer sought to achieve a sense of unity and a cohesive ambiance mood from the story’s start to the end. The American short stories were also creative, imaginative, and original and always sought to tell the truth about human nature.
Conclusion
“A Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe is an excellent example of a short story that is a product of its historical environment. There are different ways through which the historical aspects of the story are evident. For instance, the story was written during the American Gothic movement. The Gothic movement saw some literary works characterized by psychological terror, dark settings, and exploration of the dark aspects of human nature. These characteristics are evident in Poe’s story, where he explores the feelings and thoughts of the narrator. Also, the story is based on some dark and gloomy settings with descriptions of various elements, such as the narrator’s madness, which illustrate the gothic movement. The story also played a role in the society’s asylum reforms, especially relating to the mental health debate, which was prevalent during the time, especially affecting the mentally ill people in the society. Poe critiques the society, which did not provide meaningful connections with its members. The story also offers traces of Romanticism regarding emotion, individualism, and imagination. Finally, Poe’s story was the pioneer in the development of American short stories, which revolved around the exploration of the human psyche and helped to put the reader in direct contact with the feelings and thoughts of the narrator. Also, it created a new form of literature that could be read in one sitting.
In this analysis, we can identify the main ways through which Poe’s work successfully acts as a product of its historical context. While the story is primarily a work of fiction, the author successfully writes about the themes of madness, guilt, and obsession. The story represented the issues evident during the 19th century and was a part of the American significant change process. Poe’s life experiences also affected his writing style, especially from the anxieties and uncertainties that characterized the era. This story reflects American individualism, where people were mainly concerned about their self-interests, evident during the 19th-century culture. Therefore, this story successfully explores the universal themes and issues that affected people when it was written.
Works Cited
Alsahafi, Morad. “A Narrative Discourse Analysis of Poe’s Short Story” The Tell-Tale Heart”: Implications for Language Teaching.” English Language Teaching 13.1 (2020): 1-17.
Auñón, Estefanía Sánchez. “Romanticism in the North American Short Story.” Cartaphilus. Revista de investigación y crítica estética 18 (2020).
Boddy, Kasia. “Introduction: The American Short Story to 1950.” The American Short Story since 1950. Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 1-18.
Goode, Aaron. “A Continuance of Chaos: The Ongoing Criticism of Enlightenment Reason in American Gothic.” ΑΚΦ (2017): 48.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” 1843.” The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (1983).
Shen, Dan. “Edgar Allan Poe’s Aesthetic Theory, the Insanity Debate, and the Ethically Oriented Dynamics of “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Nineteenth-Century Literature 63.3 (2008): 321-345.
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