Let's start from the end. An omen, a flashback, are the creative tools that Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) uses as we journey through the madness that is “The Tell Tale Heart (1843).” We have no names to go by, just the perspective, a story told by a man reclaiming sanity in a crazy situation. Here masked by denial; we are told an anecdote that is driven by love and hate, the most irrational emotions we all know and feel. Poe shows us how these feelings can become twisted and malignant. He uses these passions, and the choices they drive us to, to show the extreme possibilities of human nature and its delicate balance. The villain begins his division, telling us that he is just nervous and that the illness has awakened his senses and has not slowed them down. Most importantly, his sense of hearing was heightened. So much so that he claims to have and can hear things in heaven and earth; and that he heard many things in hell (331). This statement is an aspect of insight; a hint that tells us a brief snippet of things to come. "How come I'm crazy then?" (331) the antagonist asks, but who is he asking? We should therefore assume that we, the readers, are the catalyst for the story. It is our job to fill the role of the police, the judge and the jury, Poe takes, to decide whether this man, this murderer is crazy or not. It's up to us to listen. Poe's narrator continues his story: “Object there was none. Passion there was none. 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 of feelings. It's the feeling that most people get thinner... middle of paper... how horrible! - this is what I thought, and this is what I think. But anything was better than this agony! Everything was more tolerable than this mockery! I couldn't stand those hypocritical smiles any longer! I felt I had to scream or die! And now... again! --Listen! Stronger! Stronger! Stronger! Stronger!” (333). Guilt is the winner and the balance is maintained. Poe shows us how love and hate are intertwined and inseparable, how guilt will always keep our conscience in check. Leave the answer to the following to us readers. Does it validate one's sanity to be calm and rational while committing murder? It is not true? Is the narrator suffering from mental disorder or is he a cold-blooded murderer? Is he the victim or the villain? Don't we all feel love and hate and know what extreme measures they can push us to? We are humans or animals or something in between?