Symbolism In Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

A nameless person clarifies that he is and was very nervous, yet is not and was not insane. Rather, the storyteller has a “disease” which turns every one of his senses, particularly his hearing, extremely sensitive. To show that he is not insane, the storyteller shares an occasion from his past. The narrator likes the old man and does not have anything against him. The only thing that shakes him is his dreadful eye, which is “a pale blue eye, with a film over it” (Poe). Symbolically the eye means the narrator’s vision and outlook on the world is obscured. Our perusing of the story is in like manner filtered through his hazy eye, bringing about in any event some confusion and irritation with the story. A “watch” is mentioned multiple times in the story. Every tick the watch makes symbolizes a time closer to the inevitable death that we all face. Poe shows this to us when he first mentions the watch: “A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than mine did” (Poe). The old man’s heart is a watch, it watches and counts down to his death. “Now, I say, there came to my ear a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” (Poe). The narrator is attempting to prove his sanity. Some proof he offers is his capability to use
When he says, "The ringing became more distinct:- - It continued and became more distinct," we sense the building tension. The expanding intensity of the beating is again emphasized by the three repetitions of the expression "but the noise steadily increased." Finally, as the narrator's sentences transform quickly into exclamations, his reiteration of "louder" echoes the sound of the beating heart, and his last screams smash the tension with his