THE TELL-TALE HEART
Writer: Edgar Allan Poe
SUMMARY
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a psychological and strange story written by Edger Allan Poe. The unnamed narrator of the story is probably a boy who lives in an old man’s house. He is suffering from a nervous disease. He is oversensitive to hearing. According to him, the old man has the eyelike vulture. The narrator fears from the eyes of the old man. When the eye of the old man falls upon the narrator, his blood becomes cold. To overcome this fear, the narrator wants to kill the old man to destroy the eye. Every night, the boy tries to kill the old man but becomes unsuccessful. On the eighth night, when he opens the door of the old man, he suddenly has a feeling of power. He kills the old man to be free from the eye of vulture He cuts off the head and arms of the old man and hides the dead body under the wooden floor. The boy neglects to remove the watch from the wrist of the old man. He leaves no sign of blood and other proofs of murder.
After the murder, the three police officers have arrived at the house for investigation. They search the house but find no evidence of the murder. The narrator hides his inner feelings and behaves very politely and pleasantly to the police officers. He talks with a smile and shows the policemen the treasure (money) and the room of the old man. He answers the questions of the officers very carefully and happily. They believe the narrator and they talk in a friendly way about other things. Then suddenly, the boy hears the tick-tick sound that comes actually from the watch of the old man. However, the narrator mistakes it for the heart beating of the dead body. The boy tries to kill the sound by talking loudly but the sound becomes louder and louder. He becomes angry and excited. He throws his chairs across the room. The policemen still talk and smile. The boy thinks that they have already known the hidden truth. He realizes that they are making fun of him, and then in his mad sense, the narrator confesses his crime. He says that he has murdered the old man and hidden the dead body under the wooden floor.
Finally, the boy kills an innocent old man because of his madness. His nervous disease leads him to be a murderer. Again, because of his mad sense, he mistakes the clock sound of the watch to be the heart beating of the dead body and thus he confesses his guilt in front of police officers.
Important Questions and Answers:
1. Justify the title, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.
Ans: The narrator is the victim of nervous disease and oversensitive to hearing. He wants to kill the old man to get rid of the vulture-like eyes of the old man. After entering into the room of the old man with an aim to kill him, the narrator starts hearing a strange, dull sound as if being made by a watch which he believes to be the heartbeat of the old man. After killing the old man, he cuts the body into pieces and hides them under the wooden floor. In the morning, when three police officers arrived there, he starts talking with them sitting in the old man’s room as the police officers don’t find anything unusual. However, while being there, the narrator starts hearing a strange sound which he believes to be the heartbeat of the old man. As he couldn’t stand the sound of the said heartbeat, he confesses his crime and reveals the entire story before the police. Since the supposed heart discloses the secret of the murder, the title The Tale-Tale Heart is therefore justifiable and appropriate to the text.
2. Was the narrator mad?
Ans: Though sanity and insanity is a matter of debate, there are various indications in the story that suggest his madness. The narrator killed an old and innocent man without any concrete reason. He did not hesitate to cut the body of the old man into pieces. Though the man loved him, he did not understand the value of love. Rather he mercilessly killed him. Even after killing and dismembering the body of the old man, he suspected that the old man’s heart was beating. He had no idea that after a man is killed his heart stops beating. The narrator has revealed himself that he is suffering from a disease which causes ‘over-acuteness of the senses’. Over-acuteness of senses is also one sign of madness. He was overcome by homicidal mania. Madmen never repent their wrongdoing. In this story also instead of repenting for his wrongful act, the narrator has tried to prove his sanity. Thus his abnormal behaviour suggests that he was truly mad.
3. Describe the nature of the murderer. [2071 partial]
Ans: The story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It is a psychological story. In the story, the boy is the narrator and murderer. He is a victim of nervous disease. He becomes angry and excited very quickly. He lives in the house of an old man whom he loves very much. According to him, the old man has an eye of a vulture. He says that the eyes of the old man always cause trouble and makes him horrified. The boy is oversensitive to hearing so he thinks the ticking sound of the watch as the heart beating of the old man. Although the old man is innocent, the narrator decides to murder the old man to get rid of his eyes of a vulture.
4. Why does the narrator confess his guilt?
OR
What made the writer confess his crime?
Ans: The narrator of this story was over sensitive to hearing. After killing the old man, the narrator and the policemen were sitting silently in the room. All of sudden, the narrator started hearing a low ticking sound. He thought that it was the sound of the old man’s heartbeat, In fact, it was the sound of the watch. In this way, the sound of the watch made the narrator confess his crime.
5. Why did the narrator kill the man? [2070, 2071]
Ans: According to the narrator, the old man had the eye of vulture which caused trouble to him when the old man’s eye fell upon him, his blood became cold. That’s why the narrator killed the old man to be free from his eye forever although he loved the old man.
6. Why does the narrator want to kill the old man? Why does his effort to kill him go in vain for seven nights? [2074]
Ans: The narrator of the story is a boy who lives in the house of the old man. He wants to kill the old man neither for his treasure nor is he badly treated by the old man. Rather he wants to kill the old man to destroy his eves. The old man has eyes like vulture’s eyes. When his eyes fall on the boy, his blood becomes cold. His eyes have caused troubles to the boy. So he wants to kill the old man to get rid of his eyes. But he can’t kill the old man for seven nights because his eyes were closed. He kills the old man only on the eighth day because the old man’s eyes were open on that day.
7. Describe the situation which encouraged the narrator to kill the old man? [2073]
OR
Describe the situation which incited (to arouse emotion) the narrator to commit the crime. [2070 Sup]
Ans: The narrator of the story was a boy who lived with the old man. He wanted to kill the old man because his eyes were like the eyes of a vulture. Although the boy tried to kill him for seven nights, he couldn’t kill him because his eyes were closed. His closed eyes didn’t make the boy angry. But on the eighth night when the boy entered into his room, he saw that his eyes were open. He was very angry and killed the old man when he saw the old man’s eyes open. So, old man’s opening eyes encouraged the narrator (boy) to kill the old man.
8. Why couldn’t the narrator kill the old man for seven nights? [2072 Partial]
OR
Why were the efforts of the narrator to kill the old man unsuccessful for seven nights?
Ans: The narrator (boy) wanted to kill the old man, not for his treasure. He wanted to kill the old man just to destroy his eyes because he had the eyes like the eyes of a vulture. His eyes were causing troubles to the boy. Although he tried to kill the old man for seven nights, he couldn’t kill because the old man’s eyes were closed. His closed eyes didn’t make the boy angry. The boy must have been angry with the old man’s eyes to kill the old man and only the old man’s open eyes could make him angry. But the boy found his eyes closed for seven nights. That’s why the boy couldn’t kill him for seven nights.
9. Why does the narrator kill the old man? What makes him confess the crime at the end? [2076 Partial]
Ans: According to the narrator, the old man had the eye of vulture which caused trouble to him when the old man’s eye fell upon him, his blood became cold. That’s why the narrator killed the old man to be free from his eve forever although he loved the old man.
The narrator of this story was over sensitive to hearing. After killing the old man, the narrator and the policemen were sitting silently in the room. All of sudden, the narrator started hearing a low ticking sound. He thought that it was the sound of the old man’s heartbeat, In fact, it was the sound this way, the sound of the watch made the narrator confess his crime.
Questions for Practice :
- Why does narrator develop intense hatred against the old man? Would you call the narrator mad? Give reasons for your answer.
- What made the narrator confess his crime?
- Describe the scene when the narrator killed the old man.
- What made the narrator confess his crime?