Monday, February 9, 2009

Poe Fridays: The Tell-Tale Heart



Ahhh . . . The Tell-Tale Heart . . . another one of my favorites by Poe! If you have not yet read this short story (and it is short!) or need a quick refresher, click here for a full online version. I highly recommend that you read it before reading any further because I will give away some of the major details below. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!!!

Kristen over at We Be Reading (and the host of this wonderful event!) says of this latest tale, "Poe has the ability to pack so much emotion and suspense into a few short pages that his stories are always compelling." I cannot agree with her more, particularly in regards to The Tell-Tale Heart. As the reader, you are kept on the edge of your seat with this story, wondering if this madman is going to be caught or literally get away with murder.

The narrator murders a man, simply because of his evil eye. An eye that I personally imagine to be a fake one; otherwise, why would it only be one evil eye? Maybe I'm wrong on this one, but that is how I have always imagined it while reading this story. The murderer goes to such lengths to hide the murder by dismembering the man and hiding him under the planks. A beating heart, the "tell-tale heart" is ultimately what gives the guilty man away. Though he believes the heart to be the victim buried under his very feet, does it not make more sense that the heart it truly his guilty conscience? At least this Poe character has a conscience!

Next week: The Black Cat

2 comments:

  1. I never thought of it as a fake eye. That's an interesting theory. I thought of it as an eye with a cataract.

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  2. Interesting!!! I never thought of that, but it would definitely make sense!! Maybe I got the idea from a guy I knew that was always taking out his fake eye! I guess that I just used my own experiences and reflected them into my interpretation. Isn't that interesting how we do that sometimes when reading stories?!?!

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