The Tell-Tale Heart ---- Edgar Allan Pore

plot  An old man has a clouded, pale and vulture- like eye which so distressed the narrator that the author wants to kill him.  For seven nights, however, the old man's vulture eye is always closed, making it impossible to "do the work". On the eighth night, the narrator kills the old man and dismembers the body and conceals the pieces under the floorboards

 When talking with the police, the narrator, however, begins to hear a faint noise, and he thinks which is the old man’s heartbeat. Shocked by the noise, the narrator confesses to killing the old man and tells them to tear up the floorboards to reveal the body.

Genre Genre of The Tell-Tale Heart Horror or Gothic FictionHorror or Gothic Fiction  The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror.  Poe focused less on the traditional elements of gothic stories and more on the psychology of his characters as they often descended into madness.

Writing style Point of view :first-person, unreliable Sense of consciousness: Psychological analysis of the criminal mind, “a writer of nerves”

Point of View ---f irst person point of view “True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?……Hearken! And observe how healthily-how calmly I can tell you the whole story” “You should have seen me” -“You would have laughed to see how cunning I thrust it in” -“Now you may think that I drew back” -“You cannot imagine how stealthily...”

Unreliable narrators  Attempting to prove his sanity  Fully admitting he is guilty of murder.

Psychological analysis -“I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph” “ Was it possible they heard or not? Almighty God!-No, no! They heard!-They suspected!-They knew!-They were making a mockery of my horror!”

Theme  Guilt and Innocence  Every one has an evil side which would control us sometimes. EYE=I  A pale blue eye--- conceal the real self---add to the uncertainties---want to kill the man

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