The Tell-Tale Heart
By: Edgar Allan Poe (Abigayle Bertlesman)
Summary
The Tell-Tale Heart is about a mad man, even though he said he wasn't mad. He works for an old man that is blind with "A dull blue eye, with a hideous veil over it". The man does not like the eye it "chilled the very marrow in my bones" he always thought. The man believed that he was not mad, he would say "You fancy me mad. Mad men know nothing" ,even though its very easy to see that he is mad. For straight eight nights he watched the old man sleep, he never thought of harming the old man, well that's until the last night. "Every night. Just at midnight. I peered in on him while he slept." He popped his head in the old mans room watching him sleep. He moved his hand towards the lantern to open it but it made a loud sound, waking the old man. The old man sat up on his bed looking around not to see the man watching him. For an hour the man was still waiting for the old man to lay back down but, that never happened. Then he moved his hand towards the lantern again and opened it, landing right on the "Pale blue eye, with a film over it". He looked straight into the dull blue eye, his blood ran cold. He could hear the old mans heart beating fast, looking into the light. Then the man got an urge to harm the old man. Then the man opened the lantern all the way, lighting up the room. He pulled the old man out of his bed and threw him on the ground. Grabbing his bed and putting it on top of him, smothering him. He lifted the bed from the dead old man, looking at the good job he had done. He dragged the lifeless body and threw him under the broads, placing the broads on top of him to hide him. Then there was a knock at the door and he opened it to find two police men. He did not think he would got caught so, he let them in. The police men look around the house, not finding a single thing. The police man and the man talk, he sat right above the old mans body. He started hearing a buzzing sound and looked around. It got louder and louder, the man was freaking out knowing it was the old mans heart. He felt grief inside him and told the police"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"
Madness
"You fancy me mad."
Obsession
"Every night, just at midnight, I peered in on him while he slept."
Old Man
They are talking over the dead, old mans body.