Summary
Short-Questions
1. What made the narrator confess his crime?
2. Describe the scene when the narrator killed the old man.
3. Would you call the narrator mad? Give reasons for your answer.
Long-Questions
1. Why does the narrator develop intense hatred against the old man?
Would you call the narrator mad? Give reasons for your answer.
2. Draw a character sketch of the
narrator.
4. The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
Characters
A boy : narrator, killer
Old man : killed by the boy
Neighbour : called the police
Three police : who caught the boy
Theme : Mad man can control himself very well and act naturally.
Summary
The Tell-Tale Heart is a psychological story based on the desire of the narrator of the story. The narrator kills an old man and confesses to the policemen but still he tries to prove that he is not mad. He claims that crazy people cannot tell their story calmly. In the story the narrator tells us how he murdered the old man, how the idea developed in his mind and how he committed the action and finally why he confessed his crime to the policemen.
The narrator and the old man lived in the same house. Every time they met they talked in a friendly way. He loved the old man. The old man had also remained very kind and friendly to the narrator, but the writer hated the old man’s vulture eyes and his looks. For an unknown reason, the old man’s cloudy, pale blue eye created madness in him. Thus, he thought of getting himself rid of the old man’s eye by murdering him. So making up his mind to murder the old man, he would get up at midnight and enter into the old man’s room. For the past seven nights he tried to gain courage to get into the room and murder him. But he could not bring himself to kill the man without seeing his “evil eyes”.
On the eighth night he was there again to kill the old man. He entered the old man’s room quietly opening the door and lighting the lantern to its minimum so that the tiny ray of light would pass to see the old man’s vulture eyes. Then suddenly he tapped the lantern and the old man sprang up and cried “Who’s there?” The narrator immediately became furious at the vulture eye, but soon he heard the beating of a heart so loud that he feared the neighbors would hear it. With a yell, he leapt into the room and killed the old man pressing the bed over him. Despite the murder, he continued to hear the old man’s constant heartbeat.
After the murder, the narrator dismembered (cut into pieces) the corpse and hid the body parts beneath the planks. He then cleaned and brushed the room in such a way that there wasn’t even a drop of blood left behind. By then it was 4 in the morning. He heard a knock on the door. To his surprise he found three policemen standing at the gate. They had come as a routine work to investigate the shout the neighbor had reported. The narrator invited them to search the premises. He explained that it was his shriek due to the bad dream and the old man was out of the town. The officers were satisfied but not ready to leave. Soon the sound of the heartbeat resumed, and he became unable to stand it and confess the crime.
Short-Questions
1. What made the narrator confess his crime?
The narrator killed an innocent old man. He cut off the head, arms and the legs of the corpse and buried under the floor. But he forgot to remove the watch of the old man. The policemen came to know what happened there. A ringing sound was coming from the dead body but the narrator thought that it was the heart-beating of the dead man. He couldn't stand it, and policemen smile looking at his face, he feels that they are mocking at him and his crime. He can’t tolerate the hateful smile of the policemen. Then he thinks that it is better to reveal the crime. And at last he confesses his guilt and says that he has killed the old man and put him under the floor.
2. Describe the scene when the narrator killed the old man.
The narrator lived with an old man. He got fear with the pale blue vulture eye of the old man. So, he planned to kill him. He entered the old man's room in the dark night. At that time he found the man asleep and he could not see his eye. And he didn't get angry. So, he returned without killing the old man. In the eighth day, the old man wakes up by a noise. And the narrator saw his dreadful eye. Then the boy killed him, cut his body off into pieces and buried under the floor.
3. Would you call the narrator mad? Give reasons for your answer.
Yes, I would call him mad. He is abnormal that mean he is really mad. If he is not mad, he can not kill an innocent old man in whose house he lives. Another proof is that he kills the old man, buries him under the ground. And he says that the sound coming from the watch is the heart-beat of the dead man. It is not possible that a dead man's heart beats. Then he confesses his crime without any compulsion. All his activities show that he is mad.
4. How was the narrator betrayed by his own heart? Discuss.
5. Why does the narrator kill the man? How does he feel after the
murder?
Long-Questions
1. Why does the narrator develop intense hatred against the old man?
Would you call the narrator mad? Give reasons for your answer.
The boy lives in the old man's house. The boy's sense of hearing is the most acute (sharp). When he looks at the old man's eye, he does not like it. The old man's eye causes him trouble. He has the eye of vulture. When his eye falls on the narrator, his body always becomes cold. The narrator feels hatred to the old man. This hatred to the old man becomes so intense (serious) day by day. The narrator decides to kill the old man and destroys the eye. Though, the old man is completely innocent. The narrator kills him at the midnight of the eighth night. The boy drags the old man on the floor and presses him with heavy clothes. Then he cuts the arms and the legs of the body, hides them beneath the floor and become happy.
I think that he is abnormal. He is really mad. If he is not mad, he can not kill an innocent old man in whose house he lives. Another proof is that he kills the old man, buries him under the ground. And he says that the sound coming from the watch is the heart-beat of the dead man. It is not possible that a dead man's heart beats. Then he confesses his crime without any compulsion. All his activities show that he is really mad.
2. Draw a character sketch of
the narrator.
The boy lives in the old man's house. The boy's sense of hearing is the most acute (sharp). When he looks at the old man's eye, he does not like it. The old man's eye causes him trouble. He has the eye of vulture. When his eye falls on the narrator, his body always becomes cold. The narrator feels hatred to the old man. This hatred to the old man becomes so intense (serious) day by day. The narrator decides to kill the old man and destroys the eye. Though, the old man is completely innocent. The narrator kills him at the midnight of the eighth night. The boy drags the old man on the floor and presses him with heavy clothes. Then he cuts the arms and the legs of the body, hides them beneath the floor and become happy.
The narrator is a complex character. It is really difficult to understand his hidden motives. He is a victim of nervous disease. He gets very much excited. He is psychologically dominated. He suffers from mental disease. He believes that he is not mad because he thinks his senses are working perfectly. He hears everything. He is a skilled craftsman and an actor too. He has complex motives. He is over sensitive. He is patient, skillful, slow and careful in each and every action.
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