The Imp of the Perverse

The Imp of the Perverse is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1845. Poe introduces the idea of an inner force he calls the “imp of the perverse,” an irrational impulse that drives people to do what they know is harmful or wrong precisely because it is forbidden.

After this reflection, the narrator reveals his own experience as a perfect illustration of this force. He describes how he once committed a carefully planned, undetectable murder, using a poisoned candle to kill a man and inherit his estate. For years he lives undisturbed, protected by the apparent perfection of his crime and the lack of any suspicion.

However, the very security of his success awakens the imp of the perverse within him. Overcome by an inner voice that insists he confess, he is seized by a self-destructive urge to shout out his guilt in public. Unable to resist, he admits everything and is condemned to death. Poe thus presents a dark psychological portrait of how guilt, conscience, and perverse impulse can destroy even the most carefully constructed plans.

"In the consideration of the faculties and impulses—of the prima mobilia of the human soul, the phrenologists have failed to make room for a propensity which, although obviously existing as a radical, primitive, irreducible sentiment, has been equally overlooked by all the moralists who have preceded them. "