The Tell-Tale Heart | Overview

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is one of a number of Poe stories that focus on an obsessed protagonist/narrator. Indeed, what holds the story together and holds the attention of the reader is the single-minded voice of the madman who, even as he denies his madness, tells a story that confirms it. Poe's use of a first-person narrator obsessively recounting a past event is an important element in his contribution to the short story form as a highly unified aesthetic entity.

Poe's theory that every element in a short prose story should contribute to its overall effect is exemplified by the...

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