The Tell Tale Heart

The Tell Tale Heart

“The Tell-Tale Heart”
“The Tell-Tale Heart”, by Edgar Allen Poe, is a very dramatic and interesting short story that may seem disturbing to some people, but is a very enjoyable story to others. I find this story to be one of my favorite short stories written by Poe. He is a really good author with stories that most people would never even think of. This story is one that is nearly impossible to just stop in the middle of. It always has your attention.
“True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (Poe). That is the first sentence of the story, and that alone is full of dramatic intensity. That one sentence gets you hooked. It pulls up question in your head. Why is he nervous? Why would anyone think he is mad? Is he mad?
Throughout the story more questions come up. Why does he watch the man? Why would he hate the old man just because of his eye? Then later you wonder why he would kill him when he said himself, “for it was not the old man who vexed him, but his Evil Eye,” (Poe). If he didn’t like his eye then he did not have to look him in the eye. Poe also makes a point repeatedly in the story that this man is not mad, but clearly anyone who reads this will get the conclusion that he is completely mad. For example when that main character is saying that there is no way he could be mad because no madman is smart enough to get away with everything he is doing like taking off the limbs and hiding him in the floorboards. That itself is the work of a madman. No one in their right mind would kill someone because of an “Evil Eye”.
This story was written well enough to keep the attention of the reader. Poe makes every little detail as dramatic as possible. Just him poking his head through the door takes an hour to do because he can make absolutely no noise. Even the way he describes the old man’s fear is so intense because he can basically read his mind and the beating of his heart is almost...

Similar Essays