The Tell Tale Heart

Main Idea
The main idea is about this man that might have a mental condition in which he can hear voices.
This man has a weird obsession with this other man's eye. He says this eye is evil. He watches
the man every night until he is ready. He then killed the man with the “evil eye”. The cops came
to the house because of a complaint from another neighbor. The man kept hearing something.
At first he thought it sounded like a clock in the wall. However after he killed the old man the
noise became louder and louder until the man could no longer bear it. So guilty he told the cops
about what he did.

Evidence
“IT’S TRUE! YES, I HAVE BEEN ILL, very ill” The author starts the short story by admitting that
this character is not well. This illness may be more of a mental condition than an immune
system sickness. By stating that at the beginning, that will set up how the character is for most
of the story.

“I could hear sounds I never heard before. I heard sounds from heaven; I heard sounds from
hell.” This text can tell us that he might feel guilty for things he has done in his past and this
might be his way of coping. That guilt could have made him hear voices. These voices could be
telling him to do something. These things could be telling him to do good or bad things.

“I think it was his eye. His eye was like the eye of a vulture,” This character thinks this old man’s
eye is evil. These might be voices he is hearing, telling him about this. He wants this old man’s
eye gone, no matter the cost.

“I finally decided I had to kill the old man and close that eye forever! So you think that I am
mad? A madman cannot plan.” The character says he isn't going mad but he wants to kill
someone because of their eye. The old man never did anything to him, so he should have no
reason. He is feeling guilty and now trying to justify why he did what he did.

“Was it possible that they could not hear?? No! They heard! I was certain of it. They
knew! Now it was they who were playing a game with me. I was suffering more than I
could bear, from their smiles, and from that sound. Louder, louder, louder! Suddenly I
could bear it no longer." The character is now feeling a lot of guilt for what he did. He
hears this sound, it sounds like the old man’s heart is still beating. He is certain that the
cops can hear it, the noise becomes so unbearable that he tells the cops that he killed
the old man, then he tells them what he did with the body.
 Quote
“Guilt is a weight that will crush you whether you deserve it or not." –Maureen Johnson.
This quote relates to the short story because in the story the guilt of killing a man made the man
tell the cops. He felt too overwhelmed and made him feel that he still heard the other man’s
heart beat. When it became too much he told the cops about what he did.

Song
Crazy train by Ozzy Osborne. This song relates to the story because both people can admit that
they are a little crazy but throughout the song and the story they both try to explain what they
did and why they are not crazy.