illustration of a human heart lying on black floorboards

The Tell-Tale Heart

by Edgar Allan Poe

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The Tell-Tale Heart Characters

The main characters in "The Tell-Tale Heart" are the narrator and the old man.

  • The narrator: the unreliable narrator delivers the story via dramatic monologue in an effort to prove his own sanity. However, his murderous actions and increasingly erratic speech reveal a distinctive lack of sanity.

  • The old man: the old man apparently lives with the narrator and the narrator claims to have loved him. However, the narrator brutally murders him, allegedly because he feared the old man's "evil eye."

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Characters

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The Narrator

It is arguable that the narrator is the only true character in “The Tell-Tale” heart. He (assuming the character to be male, though we do not even know this with certainty), informs the reader of the existence of the old man and the three police officers, but he says next to nothing about them. He is so extremely unreliable a narrator that he may have invented them, along with the story.

The narrator tells the reader nothing about the external details of his life, but he does reveal his psychology in great detail. He is prone to mood swings, feeling elation at his own cleverness in one moment and despair in the next. He greets the police officers with an effusive welcome that can hardly fail to arouse their suspicion, then quickly condemns them as dissembling villains.

The narrator is also exquisitely sensitive. He commits murder for the sake of his aesthetic preferences, deciding that the sight of the old man’s eye is so upsetting that it must disappear forever, along with its owner. His sensitivity leads him to understand the old man’s feelings—or at least to think he does—though without empathizing or caring about the terror of his victim. When he hears the “groan of mortal terror” emitted by a man who knows he is near death, the narrator reveals that he has often given such a groan himself in the middle of the night, which is why he recognizes the sound. Since he had no such immediate fears as the old man has, this suggests that he is often frightened by his own dreams or thoughts. 

The narrator’s sanity is clearly open to doubt, and whether one should call him mad or not is ultimately a matter of what one understands madness to be. Whatever the reader thinks of his sanity, he has many peculiarities, and the strangeness of his character is constantly emerging in the details he gives of his actions and reactions, and how he imagines the reader (or his audience, whoever it is) will respond. When he thrusts his head into the old man’s room, he exclaims “Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in!” This presumes an unusual sense of humor. The narrator’s use of the verb “thrust” is also unique, since he says that it took him an hour to place his head within the opening. 

The narrator’s erratic descriptions of the passage of time emphasize his lack of reliability, as do his assumptions about what the reader will find amusing, admirable, or ingenious. Even if his murder of the old man did not call his sanity into question, his self-congratulation on the cunning of smothering an old man and hiding his body under the floorboards of the house where they both live would not reflect well on his intelligence. The narrator seems to think he has committed the perfect crime, spoiled only by the incriminating heartbeat. His vanity and egotism lead him to view himself as a criminal genius; however, whatever the reality that lies behind his sensational narrative may be, this is not it.

The Old Man

All the reader learns of the old man is that he has a pale blue eye, like that of a vulture, which has a disconcerting effect on the narrator. Nothing is revealed of his inner life, except that he is terrified when he hears the narrator coming to murder him in the middle of the night, a very natural reaction. The narrator complains of no vice or unkindness on the part of the old man; he says he loves him but does not allude to any particular virtue or kindness as a reason for his love.

The old man is barely enough of a character to be called a flat character. He has been understood as a symbol of science, reason or paternalism. However, his two most suggestive attributes are an eye that will not close and a heart that will not stop beating. These are indicative of a dogged attachment to life, which could be seen as identifying the old man as the archetypal murder victim, since his main characteristic is a resistance to murder. 

The Three Police Officers 

The police officers are not differentiated at all and are given no dialogue. They are described as suave and unsuspicious. Even by the standards of this least reliable of narrators, this seems unlikely to be true. It is the job of the police to be suspicious, and the narrator’s bizarre behavior—inviting them in, asking them to search the house, then insisting that they stay and converse, all taking place at 4:00 a.m.—would be enough to arouse suspicion in anyone. The police officers are a symbol of authority and retribution, and in this unusually easy case they need only sit and wait while the murderer delivers himself into their hands.

Expert Q&A

What two character traits does the narrator demonstrate in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" exhibits two key traits: insanity and paranoia. His insanity is evident in his belief that his roommate possesses an evil eye, which leads him to murder. His paranoia manifests when he imagines the old man's heart still beating after death, leading him to confess his crime to the police. These traits, coupled with his arrogance and possible guilt, drive the story's plot and ultimately lead to his downfall.

How would you describe the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is characterized by nervousness, delusion, and madness. He admits to being diseased, claiming it enhances his senses rather than indicating insanity. Despite his attempts to prove his sanity by detailing his calculated murder of the old man, his actions reveal his instability and obsession, particularly with the old man's eye and the sound of a beating heart. These obsessions may symbolize his fear of time and death.

In "The Tell-Tale Heart," what characteristics does the narrator use to prove his sanity and suggest his madness?

The narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" argues throughout the story that his heightened senses, his powers of observation, his extreme mental acuity, and the manner in which he murdered and concealed the murder of the old man are proof of his sanity. However, the narrator's own behavior in confessing to the murder demonstrates his insanity, undermining all of his arguments to the contrary.

What does the "The Tell-Tale Heart" narrator do in the old man's room nightly?

Each night, the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" enters the old man's room around midnight to observe him as he sleeps. He takes an hour to carefully open the door and shine a thin ray of light on the old man's closed eye. This ritual continues for a week, as the narrator plans to kill the old man only when his "Evil Eye" is open. On the eighth night, the narrator finally attacks after the old man awakens.

Who is the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and what indicates their gender?

The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is an unnamed, unreliable character whose gender is not explicitly revealed. The first-person narrative uses "I," avoiding gender-specific pronouns. Critics often assume the narrator is male, influenced by societal norms. Potential hints of masculinity include references to "madman" instead of "madwoman" and the narrator's ability to move furniture, suggesting physical strength. However, these are inconclusive, leaving the narrator's gender ambiguous.

In "The Tell-Tale Heart," what nightly action does the narrator take and why?

In "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator sneaks into the old man's room every night for a week to observe him while he sleeps. This nightly action is driven by the narrator's obsession with the old man's "vulture-like" eye, which he finds disturbing. The narrator's goal is to ensure the old man's sleep pattern, ultimately leading to his plan to kill him on the eighth night when he accidentally awakens the old man.

Who is the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" speaking to and from where?

The narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" speaks in a first-person perspective, resembling a confession. However, it is ambiguous whether he is addressing himself, the police officers after his confession, the reader, or another listener. The story does not specify the location of the house, adding to its mysterious and unsettling atmosphere.

How does Poe define the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" through his words and actions?

Poe defines the narrator through his obsessive and tortured personality, marked by nervousness and heightened sensitivity. The narrator fixates on the old man's "vulture eye," associating it with his own psychological terror of time. His actions, including the murder of the old man, reveal his desperation to escape this terror. However, the persistent beating of his own heart symbolizes his inescapable guilt and fear, ultimately leading to his confession.

What type of character is the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

The narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" presents as an unreliable narrator whose actions do not convey the qualities of a sane man. In his crime, he also proves to be arrogant yet patient. For seven nights the narrator carefully watches the old man sleep, and finally on the eighth night he strikes. His arrogance and confidence in the successful cover-up of his crime don't outweigh his guilt, however, as he confesses upon hearing the deafening sound of his victim's heartbeat.

Who is the main character in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

The main character in "The Tell-Tale Heart" is the unnamed narrator, who insists on their sanity while describing the murder of an old man due to his "Evil Eye." The story is told from a first-person perspective, allowing Edgar Allan Poe to focus on the narrator's voice and mental state, emphasizing their descent into madness. The narrative's structure raises questions about the narrator's reliability, as they attempt to justify their actions.

Whose heart did the narrator actually hear in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

In "The Tell-Tale Heart," the narrator believes he hears the old man's heart beating, but it is more likely his own heart due to his extreme nervousness and acute senses. The narrator's madness and the fictional nature of the story allow for multiple interpretations, including the possibility of hearing the old man's heart from beyond the grave. Ultimately, the sound symbolizes the narrator's guilt and psychological unraveling.

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