The Tell-Tale Heart
By: Edgar Allan Poe
Beginning
"True!--nervous--very, very nervous I had been and am;but why will you say that I am mad?" The narrator introduces the main character, the butler and describes how he feels about the old man. He loved the old man dearly, but, his pale blue eye is to much to handle, so he plans to kill the old man.
Middle
"The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only." The butler finally works up the courage to kill the old man, he slides the heavy mattress on top of him. In an instance, the old man was finally dead. He felt relieved, and while he still felt confident, he chopped up the old man and hid him under the baseboards.
End
"No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do?" The police show up after the butler cleans up because a neighbor has reported a hearing of a shriek. The butler is still confident that he will get away with it. Then, he starts to hear a low, dull, beating sound. At this point, the butler is not confident that he will get away with the crime. What happens next? he goes crazy after he hears the beating and confesses to the murder.