Analysis Of The Tell-Tale Heart

The "The Tell-Tale Heart," is a story that can be seen multiple ways. The reader must take their time to understand the many important elements in this story such as in the characterization and the plot. The characterization is part of being able to understand our narrator, who is the main character in the story, as well as understanding the sequence of events that is revealed as they transpire. All of these elements help the reader understand the meaning behind the story and allows the reader to have a brief glimpse into the writers mind.

The building of our main character in this story starts out odd, to say the least. Our main character which happens to also be the narrator states "he is not mad but is in fact diseased". Unlike the fact that mad men act mad our writer describes himself as not only being sane but having sharpened senses. This includes his new acute sense of hearing. Our main character states that "he is not only able to hear all things on earth, but also in heaven". He then goes on to tell us that "he hears many things in hell". Because this story is in first-person we are unable to tell if what we are told is true or false. This being said we are to understand that our main character is unreliable.

It appears our main character wants us as his readers to understand is that not only is he not mad, but he has no idea about how the eye of the other man has came to haunt him. It is with this haunting that our main character decided in order to rid himself of the eye he must also rid himself of the old man in which the eye holds home.

Our character starts his quest by secretly observing the man while he sleeps. This surveillance goes on for about a week before he determines it is time for him to kill the old man. When the fatal night has come the narrator slowly enters the room trying to be stealthy so as not to wake the old man but he is unsuccessful. The old man wakes up and cry's out in an effort to inquire who's sneaking around in the darkness but only to have no one reply to his inquires. Our narrator is able to hear not only the fear in the old man's voice but also the terror in the old mans heart beat and is soon interrupted by a dull pounding. Our narrator becomes worried that the neighbors might hear the cries so he immediately attacks and kills the old man by pulling his own bed over him. It is only after this our main character describes feeling that he has finally fully rid himself of the terror of the eye.

After committing the murder our