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Abstract

In this research paper, the researcher aims to analyze the main character in the short story, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. This is aimed at knowing who he is and what makes him mentally unhealthy. The analysis of the text is based on a technique textual analysis referred to as close reading. It is a theory of personality according to Sigmund Freud that claims that the mind is subdivided into three parts: the id (our urges), the ego (our realistic self), and the superego (our conscience). The readings reveal that the mind of the narrator is imbalanced. His id (violent impulses) is excessive, his ego (sense of reality) is shattered and his superego (guilt) is manifested only after the crime in the form of a haunting hallucination. The research concludes that he is doing so because of a blend of mental illness, intense anxiety and an internal war being fought between what he wants and what he is guilty of. This study shows that the psychoanalytic theory can be a helpful instrument in the interpretation of complicated characters in literature.