The Tell-Tale Heart

I wrote my essay on the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe. It

is a story about a young man who taks care of an older man and eventually kills him. He

does not kill him out of hatred or greed, but because of the mans eye. The eye has a cataract

andis shifty and he calls it the evil eye.

                  Every night he sneaks into the old mans room and watches him as he sleeps. He

isn't watching the old man out of habit. He watches him looking for the evil eye, but every

time he goes in he finds the eye closed. The night of the murder he makes a slight noise and

the manwakes up and the evil eye is open. The eye instills rage in the young man and yet he

keeps quite still and waits for the perfect moment to strike. The moment comes and he

smothers the old man.

                            His next step is to hide the crime. He cleans up the room where

the murder occurred
and now has to hide the body. He pulls up three of the floorboards

and places the dismembered corpse under them. He committed the perfect crime, but

every night he could hear the beating of the mans heart and it was driving him insane.

Three police officers came over to ask about the missing man and while they were

questioning the young man he kept hearing the beating heart. The beating drove him

so insane that he admitted the crime and showed them where the body was.

                      This story is about insanity and remorse and the power of

ones conscience. He is driven to kill the old man because of his evil eye.

He doesn't care about anything except the eye. He is extremely methodical as he

carries out the crime. He hides the body and he has pulled of the crime. The beating

heart that he keeps hearing is his conscience reminding him that he killed the old man.

He tries to fight his conscience but its too strong and he eventually admits that

he killed the man and shows the police the body. I... [continues]

Read full essay