The Tell-Tale Heart

“The Tell-Tale Heart” is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s best-known short stories, first published in The Pioneer in January 1843. It is a work of Gothic horror written from the first-person point of view; like other Poe stories that employ the same narrative style (e.g., "The Black Cat," also published in 1843, or "Berenice," published in 1835), "The Tell-Tale Heart" uses an unreliable narrator to explore obsession, guilt, violence, and the supernatural. It has been adapted multiple times for various media, starting with a 1928 movie of the same name. More recently, it inspired a 2008 short by acclaimed horror filmmaker Robert Eggers as well as an episode of the 2023 Netflix miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher (itself based on a Poe story).

Originally, the story included an epigraph with a stanza from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1838 poem “A Psalm of Life,” subtitled “What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist”:

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

   And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

   Funeral marches to the grave.

The epigraph was removed from later editions due to Poe’s belief that Longfellow had plagiarized it.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain graphic depictions of violence and murder.

Plot Summary

The unnamed narrator addresses an unknown interlocutor directly, confessing to the murder of an old man in whose house the narrator used to live. The narrator’s age, gender, and relationship to the victim are unclear. The criminal hopes to prove their rationality with the confession but says that they felt compelled to commit murder because of the old man’s eye—“the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it” (Paragraph 2).

Prior to the murder, the narrator is obsessed with getting rid of this “Evil Eye” despite their love for the old man, who has never mistreated them. For seven nights in a row, at midnight, the narrator cautiously opens the door to the man’s bedroom and shines a ray of light on his closed eye. Since the narrator hates the eye, not the man, they keep postponing the terrible deed.

On the eighth night, the narrator’s actions wake the old man. The murderer does not withdraw, as they are invisible in the dark room. The old man asks who is there, but the narrator remains silent, enjoying a sense of power. The stalemate lasts for an hour, the narrator waiting and reveling in their knowledge and the old man trying but failing to calm himself. Upon hearing a sound like a groan, the narrator imagines the old man's fear with relish.

Finally, the murderer opens the lantern so a very small ray of light illuminates the open eye. The old man’s heartbeat seems to become audible, like the ticking of a watch “enveloped in cotton” (Paragraph 11). The murderer waits, shining the light onto the eye while the heartbeat grows progressively louder.

Afraid that the neighbors might hear the noise, the narrator suddenly opens the lantern all the way and jumps into the room. The old man shouts in terror. The criminal drags him to the floor and covers him with the bed. The heart keeps beating erratically for a while but eventually stops, and the narrator uncovers the body. The old man is “stone dead,” and his eye will no longer trouble the murderer.

The narrator dismembers the body, cutting off the head and extremities first. They hide the body parts under the floor planks; all the blood has been caught in the tub. At that moment, however, there is a knock on the door.

Three policemen have come to inquire about a shout a neighbor heard during the night. The narrator is calm, as there is nothing to fear. They invite the policemen to come in and search the premises, including the old man’s bedroom. The narrator even brings in chairs and bids the men sit and rest. The murderer places their own chair on top of the planks hiding the body.

Seemingly satisfied that everything is in order, the officers begin chatting. The narrator, however, suddenly develops a headache and ringing ears. The murderer starts talking, trying to get rid of the unpleasant sensation, but the ringing continues. Eventually, the narrator realizes it sounds like the ticking of a watch covered in cotton.

The narrator tries to mask the noise by talking loudly and rapidly, getting up and gesticulating. They pace, raving, and go as far as grating the chair over the floorboards. The policemen continue smiling and talking. The narrator believes that they, too, hear the noise and know about the crime and are simply feigning ignorance. Unable to stand the tension, the murderer confesses, telling the policemen to tear up the planks where the old man’s heart is beating.