This short story is one of a mentally disturbed man who is literally tormented by his employers eye issue to the point that he ends up murdering him and hides the man's body under the floorboards.
Of course, the story includes unreasonable components of paranoia and hallucination but the narrator insists this be understood as reasonable and completely sane.
It is possible the narrator was schizophrenic as evidenced by the moodiness, paranoia, unprovoked violence, and hearing things that are not actually there.
The Tell-Tale Heart is a perfect example of Gothic American fiction. If you have not read this story, you simply must. Click here to read it now.Because it is a short story, I did not want to summarize the entire story.
I did discover a few lesser known and random facts that are too good not to share so here you go.
~With whom is the narrator speaking with? Great question, unfortunately, critics have no definitive answer. Basically, no one seems to know. There are speculations that the narrator could be disclosing this story to a newspaper, judge, doctor, or a prison warden. This will probably be an indefinite mystery.
~Literary critics disagree about the gender of the narrator. Poe never used gender-specific pronouns but since the narrator had frequent, irrational, and emotional outbursts, it was concluded that the narrator must be female. ACK!
~Some critics believe the man with the evil eye had a son, and he is the narrator.
~Was The Tell-Tale Heart inspired by the creation of the insanity plea? Some say possibly.
~Could a murder mystery committed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1830 have influenced Edgar Allan Poe to write The Tell-Tale Heart? April 6, 1830, Captain Joseph White, a retired, extremely wealthy, 82-year-old, shipmaster was brutally murdered. Captain White never married and had no children.
Initially, he had a will drafted leaving most of his wealth to his grandnephew, Joseph J. Knapp but after a falling out of sorts changed the will leaving him completely out. This, of course, enraged Joseph. After hearing the news of the will change, Joseph entered the Captain's house and stole the new will leaving the original will in place. Captain White was not dying of natural causes quickly enough so Joseph decided to help him out.
On April 6, 1830, Joseph, John (Joseph's brother), and a local criminal named Richard Crowninsheild, climbed through a window, headed straight to the Captain's bedroom, and beat him to death. They initially got away with the crime but their plot to murder Captain White and pay Richard Crowninshield to help them was discovered by a local petty criminal who in turn testified for the prosecution of the murder plot.Unfortunately for the murderous trio, Daniel Webster was the prosecuting lawyer. Daniel Webster was a lawyer, a politician, and one of the greatest orators of his time. Apparently, he was mesmerizing when he spoke. Scholars believe that Edgar Allan Poe used the courtroom summation by Daniel Webster to write The Tell-Tale Heart.
Most fictional murder mysteries are based on true events with the author changing the story up a bit. The murder of Captain White is not exactly the same as the old man with the evil eye but it is a possibility it could have been Poe's inspiration. What ever events inspired The Tell-Tale Heart its American Gothic at its best.
Click here for another free pdf for the story.
If you do not want to read it, click here for a narrated YouTube audio.
And if you just want a summary, click here, but really, just read the full story.
A short quiz.
Lesson plans for 6th-8th grade, 8th grade, and high school.
Click here for a free pdf of the trial.
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