Guilt In The Tell Tale Heart

Bishop Robert Smith once informed, “Guilt upon the conscience like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, growing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of metal.” The human heart is a extremely fragile thing. It can easily be broken or torn apart, just like iron can be easily worn away by rust. Adding on, there are many heartbreaks that exist in the world and guilt is one of them. In the short story The Tell - Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe the readers are introduced to a narrator with rowdy thoughts. For weeks the narrator treated an old man, with a vulture eye, with immensely kindness to gain the man’s trust. However, on the eighth night, after midnight, the old man was murdered by the

The narrator’s mind was full of crazy thoughts about the old man and his evil eye. He had his heart set on murdering the man so he can be happy and freed of the vulture eye. The text stated, “Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold, and so by degree, very gradually. I made up my mind to take the life of the old man” ( paragraph two ). This quote means, every time the narrator saw the eye his heart would shiver with fright. He couldn’t stand seeing the eye, feeling the fear, he needed to get rid of the eye and the old man, for good. In the fourth paragraph the text also states, “ I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was opening the door little by little, and he not even to dream of my secrets or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea.” This shows that the narrator’s heart is so dark and twisted that it beats with joy as the thought of murder comes to mind. The narrator laughs when he thinks about murder and death, which is completely disturbed way to think. However, once the murder was in motion the heart began to change from its darkness to something much

The narrator started to be questioned by the authorities for an odd sound that was heard by a neighbor. While the questioning was going on the narrator kept going over the slaughter and began to feel guilty for it. The narrator told the readers, “No doubt I now grew VERY pale; but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased -- and what could I do? It was A LOW DULL, QUICK SOUND -- MUCH SUCH A SOUND AS A WATCH MAKES WHEN ENVELOPED IN COTTON” ( paragraph seventeen ). The narrator started to hear a noise. A quick loud beating, but little did he know it was his own heart. The narrator started to regret the murder but his mind did not catch up with his, yet. His heart was reaching out to his brain so he would understand the horrible acts that were committed. The last sentence of the short story stated, “ “Villains!” I shrieked, “ dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart” ( paragraph seventeen ). This quote shows that the narrator believed that the sound, only he was hearing, was the beating heart of the old dead man. The repetitive thud finally took control over the narrator’s thoughts, causing him to come to his breaking point. This leads to the narrator turning himself in for the murder for he could no longer deal with the beating heart. The guiltiness of his own actions finally reached