In the story the Tell-tale Heart, the narrator is the main chracter and my question is if the narrator is a Boy or a girl? i need your answer as soon as possible for a report, thank you.

-- Anonymous, November 17, 2003

Answers

Poe's short story "The Tell Tale Heart" has been described as the ultimate gothic horror story, for its mood and narration, Some critics have suggested that the narrator might be a woman, because the absence of pronouns in the text - fails to indicate either sex. The murder of the old man with the vulture eye - could easily have been committed by a woman as well as a man.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2003

One: Name ANY story where Poe speaks directly from the mind of a woman. "Scheherezade" which is a comic satire. In "The Premature Burial" the anecdotes get into the male minds but not the female. For Poe to be playing a profound reversal there are no clues to sex, but Poe's view of women and the strong violence and robust madness of the narrator would make it safe to assume the murderer was a man. Ripping up the floorboards, etc. The temptation once succumbed to, is to take a two-fold stroll into Poe's purposeful vagueness, missing the real intent and "discovering" a neat interpretation that would have amused Poe no end. The reason so little description is given in most Poe narratives is to draw the reader more emotionally into the dark, make identification with the character easier, and to feel the story.

Even a story like "Ligeia" or poems about women are always from the first person point of view of the narrator and the effect she has on him.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2003

Most people conclude that the narrator of the Tell Tale Heart is male, although he could be female. However, most of Poe's other stories and poems depict a male narrator, so the probablity the main charactor is male is much greater than the probablity the main charactor is female.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2004