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221
lo II ger. The deed is done. [Hos Poe: »I Ihen smiled gaily,
to find the deed so far done».] He retreats, retraces his steps to the
window .... and escapes. He has done the murder. No eye has seen
him, no ear has heard him: The secret is his ovvn, and it
is s a f e!»
Webster fortsätter:
Ah, gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake. Such a secret
can be safe nowhere True it is, generally speaking, that
»murder will out» . . . . The guilty soul cannot keep its
own secret. It is false to itself; or rather it feels
an irresistible impulse of conscience to be true to
itself. It labours under its guilty possession, and k n o w s not
what to do with it. The human heart was not made for the
residence of such an inhabitant. It fmds itself prayed on by a tor-
ment, which it dåres not acknowledge to God or man The se-
cret which the murderer possesses soon comes to
possess him; and like the evil spirits of which we read, it o v e r-
comes him, and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it bea-
ting at his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding disclo-
s u r e. He thinks the whole world sees it in his face, reads it in
his eyes, and almost hears its workings in the very silence
of his thoughts. It has become his nature .... It must be confessed,
it will be confessed.
Överensstämmelserna mellan The Tell-Tale Heart och
Websters tal äro i alla väsentliga punkter slående. Också är
det knappast för djärvt att säga, att Websters ord: »The
guilty soul .... is false to itself; or rather it feels an irri-
sistible impulse of conscience to be true to itself» ge nyc-
keln till Poes hela uppfattning av detta problem. Brotts-
lingen är icke medveten om att det är samvetet, som utläm-
nar honom åt rättvisan och straffet, och dock är det så.
Sedda i denna belysning harmoniera de tre noveller, som
tillhöra denna grupp, fullständigt med den novell, vari Poe
som i ingen annan framställt samvetets makt: William
Wilson.
I denna novell, över vilken som motto läsas orden:
What say of it? What say of Conscience grim,
That spectre in my path?
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