Edgar Allan Poe  born in January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic 

considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story, and is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction

 genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, 

resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

CHARACTERS

THE OLD MAN• We are given some hints through which we find out that the old man has

money (the narrator shows the old man's "treasures" to the police),he also has a blue eye that the narrator dreads the sight of , and fits the description of a corneal ulcer. Of course he is old and happens to be a sound sleeper.

Trust?• According to the narrator,

the old man suspects nothing because the narrator was super duper nice to him the week before he killed him. We can't prove the old manwasn't suspicious, but because he leaves his bedroom door unlocked we can assume it. We know the man isn't naturally trusting – he's afraid of robbers. But, it seems he does trust the narrator enough to give him the run of the house while he sleeps.

Mad?The old man’s senses are definitely dulled – he only

hears the narrator on the eighth night. He doesn't seem to have the slightest idea what's going on around him and is incapable of defending himself. Perhaps the narrator is slyly hinting that he thinks the old man is "mad." This makes us wonder if the old man was very senile, dependant on the narrator's care. If so, this adds a new dimension to the creepiness and puts the narrator in an even more negative light.

 protagonist

• The Narrator• The narrator is the

protagonist because he's the main character, and we see everything from his perspective. He is not a very nice protagonist, but we can still empathize with him.

• More specifically………

Such a wreck…..• Our narrator is such a wreck, it's hard not to feel sorry for

him. He's nervous ("very dreadfully nervous"), paranoid, and physically and mentally ill. He doesn't know the difference between the "real" and the "unreal," and seems to be completely alone and friendless in the world. We suspect that he rarely sleeps.

Male or female?• Poe doesn't explicitly tell us

if the narrator is male or female. The only reason we feel comfortable calling the narrator "he" is these lines: "You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing" .

Perverted mind….

• People are driven to murder, and other acts that are destructive to the self and others, due to perverse and uncontrollable impulses. Most of Poe’s works explore this idea to some degree.

• But what is perverse???• a. Contrary to what is morally right or good; wicked, evil,

debased.• b. Contrary to an accepted standard or practice;

incorrect, mistaken, wrong; (of an argument, interpretation, etc.) unjustifiable, contradictory, distorted."

Open The eye !!!….• The narrator's contention that he

wants to kill the old man is simply because he wants to be free of the power of the old man’s eye.

• So he seems to enjoy spying on the old man for the eight nights prior to the murder…But if he wants to kill the man for "practical" reasons, why does he go through such an elaborate and creepy process? And why does he take such pleasure in it? Can we chalk this up to perverse impulse? 

The three policemen• The three policemen don't really

have any characteristics. Yet, they play a major role in driving the plot of the narrator's story, so we should at least consider them.

• They seem to be conscientious – they waste no time in showing up at the house after suspicion is aroused. Furthermore, they don't leave after the narrator has given them the tour of the house, but seem to stick around to see what such pressure might induce.

• The three policemen are fairly unambiguous, flat characters who do exactly what they are supposed to do.

Villains• First, the narrator calls the

police "villains," and accuses them of "dissembling." Dissembling is pretty close to "dissimulation" .Dissemblers and dissimulators both act one way in order to conceal true feelings, or intentions. If you recall, the narrator cites his ability to act sweetly to the old man while inwardly desiring to kill him as proof of his sanity. Now he suspects the police of doing the same thing – acting like they don't suspect him, even though they do.However, what likely made the police suspect him was his own actions, specifically, this: "I foamed – I raved – I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards“.

You fancy me mad???• By connecting his

auditory hallucinations with the old man's heart, he admits he actually feels bad about what he did, or at least knows it's wrong. That sounds something like sanity, which might explain why the narrator would end the story meant to prove his sanity with what, at first glance, looks like a confession to murder.

A neighbour……• The neighbor plays a small but important

role in the narrator's story. the neighbor shows us that the narrator and/or the old man are alienated from their community. The narrator expresses fear that "a neighbour" will hear the old man's heart beating, and, sure enough, one little scream and the neighbor gets out of his or her bed, goes down to the police station, and raises enough flags to get the cops out the old house extremely quickly. The fact that the neighbor's complaint was taken seriously suggests that he or she doesn't do this everyday – if he or she did, the cops might have ignored the complaint. 

What’s Up With the Title?• The title refers to the beating of the old man's

heart.•  We first hear his heart beating on the eighth night,

when he realizes that something is not right in his room. His heart tells a tale of fear, which in turn makes the narrator extremely angry and gives him the push he needs to carry out his dastardly deed. 

• The next time we hear the beating of the heart is after the old man is dead. See, this is part of why the narrator tells us he cut up the body before burying it under the floorboards. 

• The title also refers to the narrator's heart. Inside the heart is where our deepest, truest feelings and emotions live, at least metaphorically speaking. We could look at the whole story of the old man's murder as a tale told by the narrator, a tale from his own heart. The title refers to both the narrator's heart, and to the old man's heart, and to the tales told by both.

The tell -tale heart

THE TELL TALE HEART (1941)