"The Tell-Tale Heart" Edgar Allen Poe

Lindsay Rosenbaum

Professor O’Neill

Short Story as a Genre

September 2, 2014

The Tell Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe

“But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!—do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst” (2).

            This passage is essential to the meaning of the story because the narrator and the old man act as one character. In the beginning of the passage, they are both motionless and silent. The narrator and the old man are paralyzed with fear, so much so that they are afraid to breathe too deeply. Then, Poe writes about the “hellish tattoo of the heart” with a genuine hatred. The narrator’s heart is beating with the same terrified fervor of the old man’s heart. However, the narrator does not seem to be concerned with the sound of his own heartbeat. The narrator focuses so intently upon the old man’s heart because the heart is beating to keep the old man, and his glass eye, alive. There is a sense of irony in the fact that the madman is haunted by the beating of the old man’s heart but disregards his own. A parallel can be drawn between the old man’s heart and the narrator’s rage. At the end of the passage, both are ready to burst. Unfortunately, as the narrator’s rage bursts, the old man’s heart also bursts. In this passage, Poe mirrors these characters to indicate the madman lacks feeling real emotion, despite describing his emotions so deeply.

To the madman, the glass eye represents everything that the madman is not. The madman seems to be obsessed with the old man’s Evil Eye because it is the only thing that separates the old man from himself. In spite of the passage’s indication, the narrator does not understand that they are the same. In the narrator’s point of view, they will never be capable of behaving in the same human-like manner. The narrator can hear all things in heaven in earth. His acute senses allow him to descend realms and acquire a unique knowledge. However, the old man’s glass eye serves as a constant reminder that the old man is lacking one of his senses. Due to the narrator’s madness, he cannot see past the differences. The old man does not pose as any threat to the narrator; however, the narrator is determined to destroy him.

            Poe employs a unique style of language that compels the reader to feel every emotion that the narrator describes. The repetitive nature of this passage forces the words to resonate in the reader’s mind. The story, as a whole, is intriguing because Poe uses the simplest language to describe the most complex of concepts. For example, he writes, “I thought the heart must burst” (2). In this six-word sentence, Poe foreshadows the tragic resolution to come at the end of the story. In addition, he places this sentence in a passage that draws parallels between the narrator and the old man. The placement indicates that the madman’s rage is equivalent to the heart that is going to burst. The madman’s burst of rage serves as a catalyst for the old man’s own heart to burst because the first burst is necessary to cause the second burst. The reader can easily identify with the actions and emotions portrayed in this story because the simple language allows the reader to derive many connotations from the same sentence. In one interpretation, the heart bursting is a parallel action to the madman’s rage bursting. However, in another interpretation, the sentence could simply mean that the old man was so incredibly terrified that his heart was beating out of his chest. Either interpretation agrees with the story, which causes the reader to wonder what Poe truly meant. This passage is especially provoking because the reader can derive multiple connotations from a simple sentence.