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The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

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  • The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

    The Tell-Tale Heart

    Edgar Allan Poe





    Discuss the title of the story?

    Edgar Allan Poe is recognized as one of the originators of the detective stories. He is a very complex writer and creates an atmosphere full of horror, terror, strange fantasies and psychological abnormalities. An overwhelming impression of horror envelops the reader and he experiences the chilly sensation of increasing dread presented through Poe’s skillful word-paintings.
    The present story too is a psychological study of a criminal’s deranged mind that goes to the extent of killing a man for an apparently insignificant reason. He disliked one of the eyes of an old man who lived in his building. The old man was a nice fellow but the narrator was disturbed by one of his eyes that looked like that of a vulture…“a pale blue eye with a film over it”. His irritation increased so much that he decided to kill the old man to get rid of that intimidating eye. He carefully planned the murder and finally killed him one night…. Everything was ok till then…. but as soon he had killed and dismembered the corpse of the old man, he started hearing a low sound that was the beating of old man’s hideous heart. The sound was increasing moment by moment and it had become more distinct but the killer didn’t give much importance to it. Just then there was a knock on the door, two policemen had come on report of a neighbour who had heard old man’s last scream. He wasn’t puzzled and showed them round; finally he took them to the old man’s room and made them sit there. He tried to talk in a general way to ward off the suspicion but the quick low sound of old man’s heartbeat started ringing in his ears. Then it grew louder and louder making him behave in a hyperactive way. He spoke loudly with violent gesticulation but the sound didn’t cease. It had become so clear that he was sure that it wasn’t only in his ears and the policemen too had heard it. He again started over-acting to dispel the situation but his own heart was fully skipping on the tunes played by the old man’s heart. He felt that the policemen were making a mockery of him by listening the sound and pretending not to listen. He exploded… and cried that he had committed the crime and that it wasn’t possible for him to bear the beating of that ominous heart.
    This sound was in fact the sound of his own heart that revolted against the heinous act of murdering an innocent man. It was his conscience that drummed its damnation in his ears and at length made him confess. He tried to present himself as a clever man who could deceive anyone but was betrayed by his own heart that revealed his guilt. This was the heart that told the whole story.

    What is the importance of the “vulture eye” in the story?

    The narrator of this event lived in a shared building with an old man as neighbour. He liked the old man because he was a polite gentleman who had never insulted or harmed him. Neither his gold had any attraction for the narrator. There was no apparent reason of his strange decision to kill such a man except a very flimsy one… perhaps it was one of the old man’s eyes that troubled him greatly. One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture… a pale-blue eye with a film over it. Whenever this eye fell upon him he felt it entering into his bosom and piercing his heart. It chilled his backbone with an unidentified dread. So gradually he made up his mind to get rid of this fear by taking the life of the old man.
    So the vulture eye served as the reason of a mysterious murder. In fact it wasn’t the eye that bothered him but it was his own mind that troubled him. No doubt, the man wasn’t normal and the mess was in his own mind that made him transfer his disquiet to a foreign object. This identification was so deep for the narrator that he took it as the true reason of his unrest and he decided to kill the old man to get rid of the pangs of his upset mind.


    Discuss the vigilance and the caution observed by the killer?

    The narrator of the story was a strangely enigmatic man. He properly planned to get rid of the disturbing vulture eye by killing the old man. He proceeded with utmost caution so that nobody should know about his mysterious activities. He was conscious of the fact that people might take him as a mad man so he again and again assured the reader that he wasn’t mad rather he was an extremely cautious and clever man. Night after night, he entered into the old man’s room at mid night when he used to be fast asleep. He took a completely muffled lantern with him so that no ray of light should come out. He stealthily opened the door and gently put his head in… to see him lying on bed. He observed every precaution to keep his act secret. It might take hours in thrusting his head fully inside the door. Then he cautiously undid the lantern as much that only a single thread-like ray fell upon the vulture eye. He carried his secret expedition on, for seven long nights. But it wasn’t possible for him to do the deed as the vulture eye had always been closed. It wasn’t the old man but his Evil Eye that irritated him so there was no immediate motive of killing the old man. At daytime he boldly went into the old man’s room and talked to him cheerfully. The old man could never guess of his presence in his room just at mid night.
    On the eighth night he was extraordinarily vigilant in opening the door. He was very proud of his sagacity and tact; nobody, including the old man, could think of his secret thoughts or deeds. This idea made him laugh, and… perhaps the old man heard him laugh as he moved on the bed suddenly but could see nothing in his dark room. The intruder didn’t turn back but he kept on pushing the door steadily. After a long time when he had thrust his head fully in, he tried to open the lantern but his thumb slipped over it making a screeching sound. The old man sprang up in the bed, crying out, “Who’s there?”… The narrator kept quiet and said nothing for a whole hour and neither he heard the old man lie down. Perhaps the old man had realized the imminence of his death and a harrowing groan came out of his horrified heart. He was terrified… but was trying to satisfy himself by saying that it was nothing but wind in the chimney or a mouse crossing the floor; but all in vain because he knew the presence of Death very close to him----- The intruder now decided to open a little crevice in the lantern. He did so very craftily until a single ray fell accurately upon the damned eye. He heard a “low, dull, quick sound such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton”. Oh! ----- The old man was frightened to death and his heartbeat grew louder and louder to such an extent that the narrator got nervous…. Some neighbour might hear the sound…this was the action time. The narrator plunged into the room and threw the bed over the old man who could shriek only once. In an instant he was dead … and before long his dead body had been dismembered and deposited under the planks of flooring. The Vulture Eye would tease him no more…

    What sound did the killer hear?

    After finishing his hard task, he was satisfied that he had finished his problem once and for all. It was about four o’ clock when there came a knocking at the street door. Three police officers had come to investigate a “shriek” that had been heard by a neighbour… The killer behaved in a very composed manner and invited them in. He told them that the old man had gone to his village and the shriek was his own in a dream. He boldly made them search every corner of the house and in his over confidence he brought chairs for them to sit in the old man’s room that was the exact place of crime. He talked to them in a carefree manner about common things. But a bit later he felt himself getting pale and he wanted them to go at once. He heard a low, dull sound coming in his ears…. It grew louder and distinct every moment. He tried to negate the existence of that sound by speaking loudly and fervently but the noise steadily increased. The policemen didn’t show any reaction, they were at ease as ever. The ringing in his ear grew further and he started to walk here and there in the room… but there was no getting away. He realized that the sound wasn’t in his ears but was even heard by the policemen who were making a mockery of him and were pretending not hear it. The sound went on becoming louder and louder. His anxiety increased so much that he shrieked, “Dissemble no more! I admit the deed!__ tear up the planks!__ here, here!__ it is the beating of his hideous heart!”
    He wasn’t a bad man basically but his psychological tangles led him to do such an act. His sense of guilt and the voice of “goodness” in his conscience compelled him to expose the heinous crime of murdering an innocent old man. The sound wasn’t an outside agent but it was a sound from inside. He was not a mentally normal man and this fact generates more chilling effect on the reader’s mind who goes through the story, holding his breath for the next odd act of the deranged killer.
    Never stop learning
    because life never stop Teaching
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