I need some help determaning the types of insanity that existists in the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe.And the mental problems that Poe sufferd from. Any help will be very usefull to me. Thank you

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2000

Answers

this is probably late too but i had to do a study of the tell tale heart for one of my classes once...so i hope this helps even if it's late. :( in the tell-tale heart, the narrator seems to be suffering from pathological narcissism, which is a projection of the self image onto other people. in other words, his image of himself was embodied in the old man. the old man had the weird eye, and the narrator sees this as imperfection that he must correct. (he thought this was an imperfection in himself). so he kills him. but he also suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, where he hears the heart beating, so he turns himself in.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2000

Of course, Poe portrayed his insanity in his short stories, in all of his stories and poems. Take the Fall of the House of Usher for example, in that story Poe is putting himself in the play, defining himself as insane.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2001

Of course, Poe portrayed his insanity in his short stories, in all of his stories and poems. Take the Fall of the House of Usher for example, in that story Poe is putting himself in the play, defining himself as insane. The thing Poe suffered the most in my view is post dramatic stress due to the sudden death of his wife and the dark dreary persona he has always had.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2001

Forgive me, Shawn, but i believe the disorder you are thinking of is post TRAUMATIC stress disorder, which is usually catagorized as having symptoms such as hallucinations and reacting severly to these hallucinations. For example, if you were to get PSD from war, you might hear guns being fired, and react by falling to the ground, looking for cover. Therefore, i do not believe that Poe had this disorder, although i firmly believe that he had bi-polar disorder, as described in his clashed of love and death in his storied and poems.

-- Anonymous, April 21, 2001