The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story that has been written by an American writer Edgar Allan Poe. This story was initially published in the year 1843. Here in this story, the narrator of this story doesn't like to be called out mad. He claims that he is not mad at all because he can perfectly do his tasks. He also claims that his sense of hearing is quite acute because he can easily hear things from heaven and hell. To justify himself as a saint as well as a sane person, he confesses a dangerous crime that he had committed.
According to him, he and the old man used to live together. They had a very good relationship. He used to love the old man very much. The old man also used to treat him very well. The only thing that irritated him much was the eye of the old man which was pale and vulture-like. The narrator wanted to kill the old man only because of this irritation. According to him, when that particular eye fell upon him, his whole body's hot blood turned out to be cold. He became restless and murmured a lot in anger inside his room. To kill the old man, he went to the old man’s room for seven continuous nights quite cautiously and stealthy. But he returned being a failure as he could not find the eye of the old man opened. In the morning time, he spoke with the old man politely and behaved as if nothing had happened. On the eighth night, he went there again with his torchlight. He did everything stealthy and cautiously. Despite it, he happened to touch tin fastening, which dropped and disturbed the sleep of the old man. In desperation, the old man asked who it was. The narrator remained speechless and motionless in one of the corners of the room. The old man was very panicked. He knew someone was in his room. The heartbeat of the old man grew faster and faster. The narrator got angrier when he heard the heartbeat of the old man. The narrator aimed a beam of his torchlight towards the old man’s eyes. As he saw the eye of the old man, he grew angrier. He jumped towards the old man. The old man screamed in fear. The narrator dragged the old man down on the floor and pressed his neck with a heavy bed. Finally, the old man died. The narrator cut the body of the old man into pieces and hid the parts under the wooden floor. After that, he cleaned the spot.
It was already four when he finished his task. Later on, three policemen appeared and rang the bell. The narrator opened the door and welcomed them. He took them to every nook and corner of his house. The policemen did not suspect anything wrong there. The narrator took them to the spot where he had hidden the corpse of the old man. He cordially asked them to sit on the chairs, which he had kept there. He sat just over the wooden plank where he had hidden the old man’s body. The policemen continued talking with a smiling face. In the meantime, the narrator heard the sound coming from beneath. He thought of it as the heart beating of the old man. He desired to reduce the loudness of the sound. For that, he started speaking loudly. He felt the sound growing and the policemen' smile as a smile of mockery. It became unbearable for him to keep the reality secret. He thought it better to confess his crime than to hide. Eventually, he confessed his crime.
“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.
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