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A short summary of Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of The Tell-Tale Heart.
- Themes, Motifs & Symbols
Love and Hate. Poe explores the similarity of love and hate...
- Context
His name has since become synonymous with macabre tales like...
- Character List
“The Tell-Tale Heart” Unnamed narrator. The murderer of the...
- The Pit and The Pendulum
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- The Tell-Tale Heart
A summary of “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) in Edgar Allan...
- The Tell-Tale Heart: Full Story Analysis
Poe uses his words economically in the “Tell-Tale Heart”—it...
- Themes, Motifs & Symbols
A summary and analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart", a classic example of the unreliable narrator genre. The story follows a madman who kills an old man with an evil eye and defends his sanity with his senses and motives. The narrator's madness is revealed by his methodical, patient, and bizarre actions, as well as his sympathy for the old man's eye.
- Background of The Story
- The Tell Tale Heart Summary
- Themes
- Characters Analysis
- Literary Analysis
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“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story by Edgar Allan Poe written in 1843. It is about a murderer who tries to persuade his readers of his mental stability while telling the tale of the brutish act. He denies that he suffers from some mental illness and openly boasts of his cleverness and cunning behavior. He kills an old man though he loves him. He hold...
At the start of the story, the narrator is answering an imaginary listener. He confesses that he has been ill but denies the fact that he is insane. Furthermore, he announces that the illness has given him more strength especially to his “sense of hearing”. He tells the imaginary listener that he is more vigilant now and is able to hear everything....
Mental Health
Poe’s story shows its readers the importance of mental health. The story demonstrates that mental illness can drive a person to the vilest acts. Psychological problems can lead individuals to act dangerously without any motive. The narrator, in the story, suffers from some mental problems which lead to his destruction. He, time and again, denies the fact that he suffers from mental illness but his awkward actions prove that he suffers from some psychological problem. He is obsessed with killi...
Guilt
Guilt is another significant theme in the story. Although the narrator does not feel guilty of his crime openly, however, it is his guilty conscience which leads him to confess his crime. At first, he murders the old man in his room and calmly hides his dead body underground. Then he calmly receives the policemen and leads them across the house. However, in the hearts of his heart, he feels nervous with the passage of time. Slowly and gradually, he hears sounds which he did not hear previousl...
Confinement
The theme of confinement is central to the story. The actions in the story are confined to a house only. Neither the narrator nor the old man go outside the house throughout the story. The narrator wants to break this confinement by murdering the old man but is unsuccessful. He murders the old man but never breaks his confinement. The narrator thinks he will escape the life of confinement by killing the old man who is a threat to his freedom, according to him, but never succeeds. Instead, aft...
Characters are people who have some individual traits in a piece of writing. Without characters, a piece of literature looks dull. They are mouthpieces for a writer through which a writer expresses their opinions about a particular issue. Characters provide them with an outlet to contribute to the social structure. Some characters are major charact...
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story poses many questions to be answered by the readers. The reality of the narrator, the motive behind his murder, his relationship with the old man, and the issues of his mental and physical health are to be discussed in this analysis section. The narrator is an unreliable person having no specific name. Even we do not kn...
A summary of Poe's classic short story about a murderer who denies his mental illness and hides the body of an old man he killed. The story explores themes of insanity, paranoia, and evil nature of the narrator. Learn how the story reveals the unreliable narrator's motives, actions, and conscience.
Plot summary. Illustration by Harry Clarke, 1919. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a first-person narrative told by an unnamed narrator. Despite insisting that they are sane, the narrator suffers from a disease (nervousness) which causes "over-acuteness of the senses".
- Edgar Allan Poe
- United States
- 1843
- January 1843
A comprehensive guide to Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart", written in the Gothic horror style. Learn about the plot, themes, characters, symbols, and literary devices of this classic tale of murder and madness.
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