The narrator is insistent that this careful precision in committing the murder proves that they cannot possibly be insane. The old man, with whom the narrator lives, has a clouded, pale, blue ' vulture-like' eye, which distresses and manipulates the narrator so much that they plot to murder the old man, despite also insisting that the narrator loves the old man and has never felt wronged by him. Despite insisting that they are sane, the narrator suffers from a disease (nervousness) which causes ' over-acuteness of the senses'. 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is a first-person narrative told by an unnamed narrator. The ambiguity and lack of details about the two main characters stand in contrast to the specific plot details leading up to the murder. The narrator also denies having killed for greed.Ĭritics have speculated that the old man could be a father figure, the narrator's landlord, or that the narrator works for the old man as a servant, and that perhaps his 'vulture-eye' represents a veiled secret or power. The narrator denies having any feelings of hatred or resentment for the man who had, as stated, 'never wronged' the narrator. The specific motivation for murder (aside from the narrator's hatred of the old man's eye), the relationship between narrator and old man, the gender of the narrator, and other details are left unclear. 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is often considered a classic of the Gothic fiction genre and is one of Poe's best known short stories. The story was first published in James Russell Lowell's The Pioneer in January 1843.

Ultimately, the narrator's actions result in hearing a thumping sound, which the narrator interprets as the dead man's beating heart. The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, attempting the perfect crime, complete with dismembering the body in the bathtub and hiding it under the floorboards.

The victim was an old man with a filmy pale blue 'vulture-eye', as the narrator calls it. It is related by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the narrator committed. ' The Tell-Tale Heart' is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. I, Drew and Scammell, Philadelphia, January, 1843

The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe