(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Subject Formation in the Tell Tale Heart

            Discuss Foucault's ideas about subject formation.
             How discourses divide and regulate "individuals" in society;.
             How this process constructs "subject positions" which individuals inhabit;.
             How individuals comply with this "normative" regime.
             "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe.
             "This relationship of the real and the imaginary - of the practical and theoretical - underpins his study throughout." ( Re-placing Madness and Civilisation, Stuart Elden page 4.) This statement is referring to the works of Michael Foucault, who studied how we are made objectified subjects classified by power and how that regulates society. He found that discourses were made up of binary oppositions generally accepted by society. One in particular was from a psychological point of view, that of the mad/sane binary. This relates directly to the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe in the subject formation of the main character. If you look a little further however this also relates back to the author himself and what his subject position was at the time of writing. In looking at the story from a Foucauldian point of view we also need to ask how this fits in with society and what they believe to be normal. Benthams Panoptican theory may help to explain how this works to create a "normative" regime for society to believe in.
             The discourse of a society, or the social practises, is a result of binary oppositions that create categories in which society operates on to either confine or segregate us in the community. It is self-regulating by dividing us into either normal or abnormal to provide us with the discourse of that time.
             According to Foucault, " Madness is an object of perception produced by social practise." (Introducing Foucault, Horrocks and Jetvic, page 39). This of course refers to the discourse of psychology that Foucault studied and in particular the mad/sane binary that makes it up.


Essays Related to Subject Formation in the Tell Tale Heart

1. Arguments for the Bundle Theory

Pafit argues that we cannot explain our survival through time by referring to a "person", because no "person" (subject of our experiences) actually exists. ... Dennett states that our fundamental tactic of self definition is telling stories, however, we do not consciously and deliberately figure out what narratives to tell and how to tell them. Dennett relates our narratives to spider webs, stating that our tales are spun but we don't spin them; they spin us. ... " adopting a structured narration as a basis for the formation of personal identity. ... " One ...

  • Word Count: 1256
  • Approx Pages: 5

2. Love And Nature In Prometheus Unbound

By examining this brilliant and provocative poem, telling the tale of a struggle against the supreme powers (gods) of the universe, we can see the awesome power of love and nature and how far these forces can take the individual. ... Heaven's winged hound, polluting from thy lips His beak in poison not his own, tears up My heart;" (P.U. ... The Furies attack the brain and heart of our protagonist. "That we will be dread thought beneath thy brain, And foul desire round thine astonished heart, And blood within thy labyrinthine veins." ... "Hers is the love, which comforts Prometh...

  • Word Count: 2844
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Grade Level: High School

3. The Rape Of The Lock

Pope tells us that with the aid of certain devices he will explore this theme, and it is at this point that we become acquainted with the "machinery" of the poem. This "machinery", he explains is the part which will be played by the supernatural elements in the tale. ... Satire is an art, whilst other genres may be purely lyrical, romantic, from the heart, the satirist is cunning, witty, and as P.K. ... As the term suggests, the mock epic genre parodies the classical epic; it is constructed around the same basic formula and employs the same devices and conventions as the epic itself, y...

  • Word Count: 2068
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. English Patient

Unfortunately this "death" has not, suggests Foucault, been a final one, for the drive to resurrect a subject position that corresponds eerily to the writer still distorts (in collusion with the Author Function) the reception of a narrative. ... The problem for the characters in The English Patient is how to receive the narrative of this "bogman from history" (96) who tells them he wishes to "erase [his] name and the place [he] had come from" (139). ... Hana, the nurse, is content to let him remain anonymous, since she is "not concerned about the Englishman as far as gaps in the plot ...

  • Word Count: 6215
  • Approx Pages: 25
  • Grade Level: High School

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question