Let us begin at the end. Foreshadowing, flashbacks, these are the creative tools that Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) uses to take us on a journey into the madness that is “The Tell Tale Heart (1843)”. We don't have names to rely on our only point of view, a story told by a man pretending to be sane in a senseless situation. Here masked by denial; we are told an anecdote motivated by love and hate, the most irrational emotions that we all know and feel. Poe shows us how these feelings can become twisted and malignant. He uses these passions and the choices they push us to to show the extreme possibilities of human nature and its delicate balance. The villain begins his division, he tells us that he is only nervous and that the illness has awakened his senses without restraining them. And above all, his sense of hearing has been intensified. So much so that he claims to have and be able to hear things in heaven and on earth; and that he heard many things in hell (331). This statement is an aspect of insight; a suggestion that gives us a brief glimpse of things to come. “How am I crazy? » (331) asks the antagonist, but who is he asking? We should therefore assume that it is we, the readers, who must be the catalyst for the story. It is our job to fulfill the role of police, judge and jury, Poe wants us to decide whether or not this man, this murderer is crazy. It's up to us to listen. Poe's storyteller continues his story: “Object, there was none. There was no passion. The old man had never wronged or insulted me. For his gold, I had no desire. I loved the old man” (331). Did he love the old man? Love is the most surreal feeling. This is the feeling that most people lose weight... middle of paper ...... because of my horror! - that's what I thought, and that I think. But anything was better than this agony! Everything was more tolerable than this derision! I couldn't stand these hypocritical smiles anymore! I felt like I had to scream or die! And now – again! --listen! Stronger! Stronger! Stronger! Stronger!”(333). Guilt wins and the balance is maintained. Poe shows us how love and hate are intertwined and inseparable, how guilt will always keep our consciences in check. He leaves it to us, the readers, to answer what follows. Does it validate sanity to be calm and rational during the commission of a murder? Isn't it? Is the narrator mentally ill or a cold-blooded murderer? Is he the victim or the villain? Don't we all feel love and hate and know to what extreme measures they can push us? Are we human or animal or something in between?