THE TELL - TALE HEART

Edgar Allan Poe

The Tell -Tale Heart is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It is told by an unnamed narrator. The story presents murderous act done by a boy and confessions done later. Poe describe that our heart cannot really hide the inner reality. Despite desire of secrecy, our heart reveals what there is. The narrator of this story claims that he is not mad as he could hear things in the heaven, earth and hell. To justify him saint, he confesses dangerous crime he has committed.

The narrator and the old man used to live together; they had very good relationship. The boy used to love the man very much. The old man also used to treat him well. The only thing that irritated the boy was the eye of him. The narrator could not stand the sight of the old man's pale, filmy blue eye. The narrator claims that he was so afraid of the eye, which reminds him of a vulture's that he decided to kill the man so he would no longer have to see it. Although the narrator is aware that this rationalization seems to indicate his insanity, he explains that he cannot be mad because instead of being foolish about his desires, he went about murdering the old man with "caution" and "foresight."

To end the consequences (effects, results), he went to the old man's room continuously for seven days. But returned, as he could not see the eyes of the man. Every night around midnight, he sneaks into the old man's room and cautiously shines a lantern onto the man's eye. However, because the eye is always closed and the narrator wishes to rid himself of the eye rather than the man, the narrator never tries to kill him, and the next morning, he again enters the chamber and cheerfully asks how the old man has slept, in order to avoid suspicion. But on the eighth nights, he as usual went there with torchlight. He did everything cautiously. Despite it, he happened to touch tin fastening, which dropped and disturbed the sleep of the man. In desperation, he asked who it was. The boy remained speechless and motionless. A little later his sense brought him the reason that the old man easy asleep again, he aimed the beam towards the old man's eyes. As he saw them, he grew angry. He then, jumped towards the man, dragged the man and pressed his neck with bed. The old man screams once before the narrator drags him to the floor and stifles him with the mattress. At last, he dismembered (took apart/ Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed) the old man's dead body and put it under the plank (board). After it, he cleaned the place spotlessly clean.

By the time he finishes the clean-up, it is four in the morning, and someone knocks on the door. In a cheerful mood, the narrator answers the door only to find three policemen who have come to investigate because a neighbor heard the old man's shriek and alerted the police to the possibility of foul play. The narrator invites them inside, knowing that he has nothing to fear, and he explains that he had been the one to yell as a result of a bad dream and that the old man is currently out visiting the country. He shows the policemen the house and confidently allows them to search it before bringing out chairs which he, in his assurance, places on top of the floorboards that hide the corpse.

The narrator's lack of suspicious behavior convinces the policemen that nothing is wrong, and they sit down on the chairs and chat with him. However, after a while, the narrator begins to wish that the policemen would leave, as his head aches and he hears a ringing in his ears. The ringing increases in volume, for which the narrator compensates (covers) by chatting more jovially, but it finally turns into a dull beating which also begins to rise in volume. The narrator becomes more and more agitated in his behavior, gesturing wildly and pacing back and forth, but the policemen hear and suspect nothing.

  

He felt the sound growing; he felt the policemen’s smile as the smile of mockery. It became unbearable for him to keep the reality secret. He thought it better to confess than to hide. Eventually he confessed the crime telling the policemen to tear up the floorboards and reveal the beating of the old man's heart.