Read the excerpt from "The Tell-Tale Heart.” If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs. What feature of gothic literature does the excerpt include?

The narrator insists that he is not mad and describes his careful, “wise precautions,” which suggests rational planning. But he has committed a gruesome murder and calmly dismembers the body, revealing irrational behavior beneath that reasoning. This contrast between rational and irrational behavior is a key Gothic feature, so the best answer is “an exploration of rational and irrational behavior.”

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