TITLE:
From Mirror to Shatter: A Lacanian Reading of “The Tell-Tale Heart”
AUTHORS:
Yuqi Shao
KEYWORDS:
Lacan, The Tell-Tale Heart, Mirror Image Theory
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.4,
April
30,
2025
ABSTRACT: This paper uses Lacan’s mirror stage theory to deeply analyze Allen Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”. It reveals the distortion and conflict of the protagonist’s psychological mechanism by analyzing how he constructs his self-identity illusion. At the same time, the paper also explores the key role of other gaze in the formation of self-identity.