The Protagonist’s Journey to Mental Breakdown in “The Tell-tale Heart”

Abstract
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 —1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic. He was best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. “The Tell-tale Heart” is one of Poe’s typical horror fictions. In “The Tell-tale Heart”, there are many details to describe —the protagonist’s abnormal psychological status, and the lunatic image of the protagonist impresses readers profoundly.
Studies of this story usually center around psychoanalysis with Freud’s Id, Ego and Superego theory. Since this theory is static, most studies focus on the protagonist’s abnormal status. With psychological diagnostic methods, this thesis analyzes how the protagonist gradually comes to mental breakdown, what details can reflect his differences from a normal person. Besides, this thesis relates the style of this story to Poe’s life experiences to help readers better understand both the fiction and Allen Poe.
This thesis’s entry point is the protagonist’s journey to mental breakdown and it provides sufficient details to help readers appreciate the story easily.
Key words: Edgar Allen Poe, The Tell-tale Heart, Psychoanalysis.
摘        要
爱伦.坡是十九世纪美国诗人、小说家和文学评论家。坡以其悬疑和恐怖小说出名。此外，坡是美国短篇小说的先驱并被人们敬为侦探小说的创始者。《泄密的心》就是坡的一部具有代表性的短篇恐怖小说。《泄密的心》这部小说以其中的主人公病态的心理描写为重点，刻画了一个精神失常的主人公形象，给众多读者留下了深刻的印象。评论家对此部小说的分析主要以精神分析流派的理论见长，其中最为大众化的点评是采用弗洛伊德的“自我”、“本我”、“超我”理论。
坡在《泄密的心》中采用了大量的手法来描写主人公走向精神崩溃边缘的心理过程，而目前大多数的研究都侧重在主人公精神崩溃这个既定事实发生的原因。本文采用一些精神分析学上的诊断手法，循序渐进地分析主人公是如何走向精神分裂的，小说中哪些细节描写可以反映出主人公已经出现了精神分裂先兆。除此之外，本文还与作者的生活经历结合以更好地诠释坡的小说风格与其现实生活经历的联系。
本文将重点放于主人公走向精神分裂过程的切入点，为读者提供一个较为清楚详细的过程分析，从而为读者更好地欣赏《泄密的心》这一短篇小说提供便利。
关键词：爱伦.坡，泄密的心，精神分析