Heart disease and Illness are clues.....

Literary Tools
These ideas are inspired by How To Read Literature Like A Professor.

Heart Disease
1. Bad love life
2. Loneliness
3. Cruelty
4. Pedophile
5. Disloyalty
6. Cowardice
7. Lack of determination
8. Character is wrong or making bad choices

To me one of the most obvious cases of heart disease being a major clue to the character's psyche is, Mr. Dimmesdale in Scarlet Letter. He is a coward, disloyal to his vows and Hester, and his body is punishing him for what he won't confess. Or the Grinch, who had to overcome his heart problems to find love.

When characters are shot, stabbed or staked through the heart it is often seen as the only way to kill them. With brave characters it is because of their strength and loyalty we would really believe anything else. Evil characters have hearts of stone, or are cold hearted, so they need to have that part of them destroyed so that they can die.

I think heart disease is easier to use in literature than in movies. You will often see it used with parents who need to make things right before they die, or men who won't express their feelings. I have also seen the idea flipped around and a child born with a heart that was too big, gives new life and love to the family before they die.