"The Tell-Tale Heart" short story by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Tell-Tale Heart"  short story by 

Edgar Allan Poe

 "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is a suspenseful and chilling tale of guilt, madness, and the consequences of crime.

Summary:

The story is narrated by an unnamed protagonist who insists that he is not mad, but instead suffers from a heightened sensitivity of the senses. He describes his intense hearing ability, claiming he can hear things others cannot, including sounds from far distances. The narrator's obsession with an old man's eye—an "evil eye" that is pale, blue, and vulture-like—becomes the central focus of the story.

The narrator reveals that he has been living with the old man for several years, further he also denies having any feelings of hatred or resentment for the man who had, as stated, "never wronged" the narrator. The narrator also denies having killed for greed , but each night, he sneaks into the old man's room to observe him while he sleeps. 

He describes the old man's eye as evil and claims that it fills him with an overwhelming urge to rid himself of the eye. The narrator's obsession with the eye grows, and he decides that the only way to free himself from its power is to kill the old man.

Over the course of seven nights, the narrator enters the old man's room at midnight, carefully watching him as he sleeps. The old man, however, never notices the narrator's presence. On the eighth night, the narrator's plan finally comes to fruition. 

As he enters the room, the old man wakes up and hears the sound of the narrator's movements. The narrator, still undetected, opens the lantern, and a beam of light illuminates the eye. Driven by his growing hatred of the eye, the narrator pounces on the old man and smothers him with the bed, suffocating him to death.

After committing the murder, the narrator hides the body. He dismembers the old man's corpse and hides the parts under the floorboards of the room. He believes he has covered up his crime perfectly, and for a time, he feels a sense of satisfaction and relief.

However, the narrator's sense of triumph is short-lived. The police arrive at his house the following day, having been called by the neighbors who heard a scream the night before. 

The narrator remains calm and even invites the officers into the house, confident that his crime will not be discovered. He leads them to the old man's room and speaks to them about the situation, hoping to avoid suspicion.

As the conversation continues, the narrator begins to hear a faint sound, which gradually grows louder and louder. At first, he tries to ignore it, but the noise intensifies. It is the sound of a beating heart—the old man's heart, which seems to echo from beneath the floorboards. 

The narrator becomes increasingly agitated, convinced that the sound is growing louder and that the officers must be hearing it as well. In reality, the sound is only in his mind, but his guilt is so overwhelming that he believes it is real.

Unable to bear the pressure any longer, the narrator confesses to the crime, shouting that he killed the old man and buried his body under the floor. His admission comes in a frenzy, driven by the unbearable sound of the heart that only he can hear. The story ends with the narrator's collapse into madness, as he is taken away to face the consequences of his crime.

Themes:

• Guilt and Madness: The narrator's intense guilt over killing the old man is symbolized by the sound of the heart. This feeling eventually drives him to madness.

• The Unreliable Narrator: The narrator insists on his sanity, yet his actions and perceptions clearly demonstrate his instability, leading readers to question his version of events.

• Obsession: The narrator's obsessive focus on the old man's eye and his decision to murder him because of it illustrates the dangers of single-minded obsession.

The story is a masterful exploration of psychological horror, showing how guilt and paranoia can lead to self-destruction.