The Tell-Tale Heart Summary

359 Words2 Pages
« The Tell-Tale Heart » is a short story written in 1843 by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was an important American writer and poet of the 19th century specialized in horror stories and psychological thrillers, and he is often considered one of the fathers of the gothic genre, the Tell-Tale Heart is one of these stories. This is a short story at the first person whose main theme is madness. The anonymous narrator tries to prove that he is sane by telling his story . He claims to have a profound sensory acuity. He tries to convince the reader of his lucidity and rationality, but suffers from a disease which « sharpened » his « senses ». He decided to kill his roomate, an old man with « eye of a vulture, a pale blue eye, with a film over it ». He couldn't stand the old man's eye. For seven nights, he opened the door of the room, each time the « vulture eye » of the old man is closed. One evening, his eyes were not closed, and the narator smothered him on his bed. Once the task accomplished, the murderer decided to hide the old man, he started to dismember the corpse and hide the pieces of the body under the floorboards. Finally, he carefully cleaned the floor, leaving no trace of the crime. The neighbours, alerted by the cry, quickly called the police, who presented the next day at the home of two men. The assassin, brings them around the house, and claimed that his roommate was away for a trip. Inside the room, they re sitting, just above the dead man. The policemen don't suspect anything. When suddenly a strange sound was heard, the beating of a heart, it seems to come from under the floor. He recognizes the sound of the heart of the old man, it could be head through the floorboards. He panics and believes that the policemen also hear the sound. But they laugh, the murderer thinks they know his culpability and thinks they are laughing at him, so he tries to make
Open Document