When we try to define human nature, we must consider the balance of both good and evil or light and dark. Many times these qualities exist simultaneously and maintain a balance, but sometimes this stability is lost and the "darker side" surfaces. Have you ever wondered what it takes to push someone over the edge? In Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator posses four qualities of mental instability that seem to contribute to …showed first 75 words of 1460 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1460 total…vain to convince the reader that he is not a madman. Throughout the story, every incident that would indicate mental instability is quickly followed by the narrator's adamant insistence of his sanity. As the reader becomes familiar with the story, it is apparent that the narrator possesses many qualities attributed to the mentally unstable. Ironically, the greatest indication of insanity is the narrator's wild and disordered language as he attempts to prove his mental stability.