What is the main character's role in the conflict of "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

In this story, the main character (the narrator) murders the old man with whom he lives. After committing the murder, he buries the body under the floorboards. However, the narrator is taunted by the sound of the old man's beating heart and rips up the floorboards, revealing to the police what he has done.

In terms of conflict, the main character actually creates it. Because of his mental instability, the narrator convinces himself that the old man has an "evil eye" which taunts him day and night. The narrator believes that the only way to rid himself of this evil eye is to kill the old man. It is this situation which creates the story's main conflict.

Later in the story, the narrator is conflicted again when he hears the sound of the old man's beating heart. To resolve this conflict, he rips up the floorboards to reveal the body. However, in doing this, he creates a new conflict because the police now know that he is guilty of murder.

What is the main conflict in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and how is it resolved in the climax?

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Is the conflict in "The Tell-Tale Heart" internal, external, or both? What is the climax?

I would say that the narrator's conflict is completely internal in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." He admits from the very beginning that there is no specific reason for his actions.

Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire.

The only excuse given for the plotting of the old man's murder was the appearance of his eye.

I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man.

Such reasoning is not indicative of a sane man. Yet the murder did not solve his problem. Even afterward, the narrator is haunted by the man and the imagined beating of his heart. The climax occurs when the narrator can stand the "beating" no more, and he directs the the policemen to tear up the planks to reveal the dismembered corpse--ant the tell-tale heart.

Is the conflict in "The Tell-Tale Heart" internal, external, or both? What is the climax?

As a reader I would think it is mostly internal, since we obviously think he's mad; he, however, tries to convince us otherwise: "Nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why WILL you say that I am mad?"

He then goes on to discuss how it was the old man's eye, which could be considered an external conflict in his mind: "I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture."

If the conflict is internal, I would argue that no, the internal conflict is not resolved because he's still obviously mad: he is dreadfully nervous when the police arrive, then finally admits to the murder: "It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

If the conflict is external, then I believe the conflict is still not resolved, but more because he is still haunted by the old man even after his death-killing the old man did not stop his external conflict.

Bottom line: seems to me that it is both internal and external, and these conflicts are not resolved when he kills the old man in the climax since he is still mad and is still haunted by him.

What is the main conflict in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and its resolution?

The central conflict in this story exists between the narrator and nature. It is death that he fears and tries to avoid, even though death is natural. He admits that he has no motive for killing the old man other than the man's "vulture eye": he doesn't hate the old man or want his money; in fact, he says that he loves the old man. Vultures are often associated with death because they are scavengers that feed on carcasses. Furthermore, old age is associated with death as well, and so we might interpret these overlapping associations as evidence to suggest that the narrator really only wants to kill the old man because he reminds the narrator of death, of his own mortality, and this is a frightening thought.

Moreover, we don't see a conflict within the narrator: he is intent on killing the old man and does not seem to doubt or question this decision. He even remarks, on the night he actually murders the old man, 

He was still sitting up in the bed listening; — just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

The narrator refers to deathwatch beetles, as superstition states that one hears the clicking noises they make before someone dies. Here, the narrator admits that he is often kept up late at night listening for these sounds, perhaps in fear for himself. Further, he describes the fearful sound the old man makes as a groan "that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe," saying that "Many a night," this same groan "has welled up from [his] own bosom." It is death that he fears, it is death with which he does battle, and his fear drives the conflict in the story.

The conflict is never really resolved.  The narrator kills the old man, and this does nothing to make the narrator feel better. For a moment, he seems to, but then when the police officers arrive, he is again beset by his nerves. The conflict continues because he is not yet dead, and so his fear of death remains.

What is the main conflict in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and its resolution?

The main conflict in this story is between the narrator's two chief desires: to get away with killing the old man whose vulture-like blue eye seems to him an evil eye and to still the old man's beating heart, which he thinks he can hear, and, on the other hand, to be punished for his crime. His desire to be rid of the old man is overwhelming, so he kills him, fulfilling that desire. When the police come, our narrator is calm and civil, and it is clear they don't suspect him. Then his guilty conscience comes into play. He imagines he hears the heart of his victim beating beneath the floorboards of the room where he sits with the police. Though the sound appears to be only in his imagination, as the police hear nothing, the man's guilt overwhelms him:

It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision!

The narrator relieves his internal conflict through confessing. Poe shows how a person can be driven not by forces outside himself, but by internal demons. 

What is the main conflict in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and its resolution?

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