The Tell-Tale Heart

Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart was one of the few short stories that I have actually read before this class. Poe’s writing is fun to read and his dark plots always seem to keep me intrigued. Considering how talented Poe is at writing tales of terror, I figured he would have an interest in this specific genre. However, after reading some of his biography I found that his main motivation for writing these stories was because they made the most money. This was a bit disheartening to me because I enjoy reading works that the writer is passionate about. Nevertheless, I find it remarkable that Poe is able to write about things that he is not particularly interested in and is still produce some of the most popular works today.    

            Poe does a great job describing why he wants to kill the old man. He doesn’t have a good reason for his actions but he goes into this vivid detail about the old man’s eye. The eye being Poe’s justification for the killing makes the story all the creepier. He describes the eye as being “the eye of a vulture--a pale blue eye, with film over it.” This certainly painted a picture for me and the depiction of the old man almost seemed as terrorizing as Poe’s character.

            Poe does a great job at building suspense throughout this story by putting the reader in the story itself. Poe talks about how he thrust his head into the old man’s room and says, “Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in!” This kind of language makes me feel like I am standing outside the doorway watching him lurk into the room. A good portion of the story seemed to be set on building suspense in the reader. Poe does this by describing every detail of his moves into the room. He comments on how he opens the lantern that only “a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.” I felt like I could see Poe doing this and the fact that he is so cautious continued to build suspense in me. Poe then quickly spikes the suspense by using dialogue that sounds nervous and aroused. Right before he kills the man he comments on how the heart kept beating louder and louder that it should burst out of his chest. This description does a good job at making the reader feel the emotions of the character. I felt like I was living in the same scene as Poe.  

            After Poe kills the old man the reader goes under the impression that Poe is now satisfied with his deed. He does this by describing how cunningly he disposes of the body which adds a large element of terror to the story. Poe continues to paint a picture when he describes how he dismembered the body and hid it under the floor boards. This description of the murder shows how insane Poe’s character actually is. This is ironic though because throughout the whole story, Poe goes into vivid detail to defend his character’s sanity. I liked this contrast between Poe’s actions and beliefs because it made for a better horror story.

            Toward the end of the story Poe describes how powerful the human conscience is. Poe’s character cannot hide the body from the police any longer and digs up the floor boards when he is suspected of nothing. I feel like this is a natural human tendency when we do something we are not supposed to do. Whenever I do something that I’m not proud of I definitely feel feelings of guilt and regret. I can’t imagine how some people live with the guilt of committing a major crime like murder. The beating heart that Poe imagines reinforces how strong the human mind is. This story reminded me of how our emotions and actions are directly affected by the thoughts we think. I feel that it is important to choose what we think about wisely so that we don’t have hearts beating in our heads as well.