Insanity vs Cleverness
Insanity and cleverness are defined as the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness and mentally bright; having sharp or quick intelligence. In this essay I will analyze the similarities Insanity and murder versus cleverness and murder as demonstrated in “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Twins”. The information being examined will convey how insanity and cleverness are proven by the two characters the wife, Lucy, and the narrator, how both murders are planned and viewed in both perspectives, and the reactions towards their murders. To begin, insanity and cleverness are proven by the characters in a variety of ways.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator displays insanity by the characters desire to eliminate the eye, due to his mental instability. It was not his intentions to rob the old man nor kill him, it was his perceived threat and his obsession that consumed him and Influenced actions. “You should have seen how wisely I proceeded – with what caution – with what foresight – with what dissimulation I went to work! ” (Poe, 1) the narrator, at this point had it planned in his mind that he needed to pursue his impulse and eliminate the eye. With precession and caution he knew exactly how he anted to proceed with this madness.
The constant obsession of the eye demonstrated that in fact he was insane, shown by his periodic observations of the old man at night through the crack of his door, and his fixation with destroying the eye. The narrators frequent reassurance to himself that he was not mad rationalize his abnormal behaviors. The wife In “Twins” demonstrated cleverness by remaining calm about her husbands plan to murder her. As a result of her intuition it resulted in her survival. Lucy had no plan to react towards her husbands madness until he recorded with making his story come to life. “It wasn’t a game.
She said, it wasn’t going to work” (Eric, 3) At this point she knew that her husband was going to shoot her, and with the advantage of knowing he had a gun she had unloaded it in order to save her life. This proves that she was clever by her removing the bullets out of the gun, and how she reacted to the gun being pointed at her. Due to her applied intelligence and understanding of the situation allowed for a positive outcome. Both murderers, Lucy and the narrator, had two deferent ways of proceeding with heir actions. The narrator displays madness when planning his murder by evolving the suspicion that he wanted to kill the evil eye.
This was demonstrated by him changing his actions to be perceived as being pleasant towards the old man. With that, in his perspective he wasn’t doing anything wrong but eliminating the eye, which increased his level of insanity. Also he appreciates the thought of murdering the evil eye to end the horror It put him through. “l made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (Poe, 1) this quote hill Lucy didn’t. She had waited to see if her husband would re-load the gun when the time came to kill her.
Lucy had listened to her husbands story and it allowed her to be intuitive and manipulated how the story was going to end. She had found the gun and unloaded it and waited in anticipation for her husband to pull out the gun and try to shoot. As she said “if she had not long known about the lady in the condominium, and if she had not come across his fishing tackle box with a loaded gun, the wig, the makeup kit, packed ready to go, while she was searching for a pair f pliers, she would never have wondered what he was up to” (Eric, 3), when the wife had found everything she did not allow the gun to make her react differently.
As her husband pointed the gun at her she was confident that the bullets were not in the gun and had shot him her self. When the time came for the cops to find him she would be sure that a story could be made up. Finally, Lucy and the narrator had individual reactions towards their murders which caused them to be clever and insane. The narrator had woken the old man and had to make his move or there wouldn’t be another chance ” I placed my hand upon the earth and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more. At this point his conscience had taken over and created a heart beat that only he could hear. The heart beat had made him panic and give in and admitted to the murder “Villains! ” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! ?tear up the planks! ?here, here! ?it is the beating of his hideous heart! “. This proves his insanity for the reason that he continuously heard a heart beat that was boisterous. When Lucy was at gun point and she noticed there were no lets, her response was to kill her husband with the knowledge that her husband would try to kill her.
Lucy had remained calm and collected and continued his story however the story flipped and he was killed. In addition, she used her cleverness to wait until she called the cops to report her husband missing. When the cops had been called she was positive towards her reactions and her husband would not be found until spring. “When the fell she knew they wouldn’t find him until spring at the earliest, and then what would they find? A body, with no money in the allot, and the gun that killed him. She had used her cleverness to overpower her husbands murder plan and to her advantage her husband had already arranged the murder. The evidence above shows that the wife, Lucy and the narrator demonstrate insanity and murder versus cleverness and murder by the two characters the wife, Lucy, and the narrator, how both murders are planned and viewed in both perspectives, and the reactions towards their murders. As you can see with the evidence provided you are able to determine the differences between insanity and murder versus cleverness and murder.
