➤ Work: The Tell-Tale Heart
➤ Author: Edgar Allan Poe
➤ Summary:
➤ The Tell-Tale Heart is a short psychological horror story told by an unnamed narrator who insists on being sane.
➤ The narrator becomes obsessed with an old man’s “vulture-like eye” and decides to kill him because of it.
➤ The murder:
➤ The narrator carefully plans the crime and kills the old man in his sleep.
➤ He dismembers the body and hides the pieces under the floorboards.
➤ He believes he has committed the perfect crime.
➤ The police visit:
➤ After a neighbor reports a scream, the police arrive at the house.
➤ The narrator calmly talks to them and feels confident that he will not be caught.
➤ Guilt and madness:
➤ While speaking to the police, the narrator begins to hear the old man’s heartbeat.
➤ The sound grows louder and represents his overwhelming guilt.
➤ Unable to endure it any longer, he confesses to the murder.
➤ Main themes:
➤ Guilt and conscience
➤ Madness and psychology
➤ Crime and punishment
➤ Reality versus imagination
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