In Edgar Allan Poe’s short-story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the speaker of the story tries to convince the reader that he is not mad. But by the speaker telling the story as he does, he answers his own question that he asks the reader at the start of the story, “...why will you say I am mad?” ( Introduction to Literature, page 415). He attempts to tell his story in a calm manner, but as he describes …showed first 75 words of 913 total…

…showed last 75 words of 913 total…of a vulture is the physical proof. With the passion he speaks of the act, the reader can see that this is not the voice of a sane man speaking, but of a man gone mad and begging that he has held onto his sanity. Bibliography Poe, Edgar Allan, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Introduction to Literature. 3rd ed. Ed. Gillian Thomas, Richard J.H. Perkyns, Kenneth A. MacKinnon, and Wendy R. Katz. Toronto:Harcourt Brace, 1995. 415-418.