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.

The narrator insists that his actions prove he is not mad, calling his preparations “wise precautions.” Yet he calmly describes dismembering a body to hide a murder, which is clearly irrational behavior. The contrast between his claim of reason and his disturbing actions makes this an exploration of rational and irrational behavior.

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