
The Tell-tale Heart
'The Tell-tale Heart' Summary
The story was first published in James Russell Lowell’s The Pioneer in January 1843. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is widely considered a classic of the Gothic fiction genre and is one of Poe’s most famous short stories.
It is unclear what relationship, if any, the old man and his murderer share. The narrator denies having any feelings of hatred or resentment for the man who had, he says, never wronged him. He also denies that he killed for greed. The specific motivation for murder, the relationship between narrator and old man, and other details are left unclear. It has been suggested that the old man is a father figure, the narrator’s landlord, or that the narrator works for the old man as a servant, and that perhaps his “vulture-eye” represents some sort of veiled secret, or power. The ambiguity and lack of details about the two main characters stand in stark contrast to the specific plot details leading up to the murder.
Book Details
Authors

Edgar Allan Poe
United States
Poe and his works influenced literature around the world, as well as specialized fields such as cosmology and cryptography. He and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, film...
Books by Edgar Allan PoeDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books

Lane that had no Turning, and Other Tales concerning the People of Pontiac by Gilbert Parker
Gilbert Parker's "The Lane that had no Turning, and Other Tales concerning the People of Pontiac" is a collection of short stories set in the fictiona...

Doppelgänger by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Der Roman erforscht die psychologische und soziale Verwirrung eines Mannes, der seinem eigenen Doppelgänger begegnet. Der Protagonist, Goljadkin, ein...

Woman in the Alcove by Anna Katharine Green
"I was, perhaps, the plainest girl in the room that night. I was also the happiest—up to one o'clock. Then my whole world crumbled, or, at least, suff...

The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The story is set in 13th century England and concerns the fictional outlaw Norman of Torn, who purportedly harried the country during the power strugg...

Vampyr by John William Polidori
Vampyr, a seminal work of Gothic horror, is widely regarded as the progenitor of the vampire genre in literature. Penned by John William Polidori, Lor...

Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas
The Corsican Brothers is a thrilling tale of revenge and the unbreakable bond between brothers. When one of the De Franchi twins is murdered in Corsic...

House of Whispers by William Le Queux
In "House of Whispers", a young woman and her blind father reside in a secluded manor plagued by enigmatic whispers. Legend has it that those who hear...

Bullet Proof by Frank Kane
Johnny Liddell, a fast-moving New York private investigator, is hired to investigate a murder that everyone, except the client, considers a suicide....

December Tales by William Harrison Ainsworth
This collection of short stories explores the complexities of human emotions and experiences, particularly within the context of winter and its associ...

Prozess by Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka's *The Trial* is a novel that explores themes of guilt, justice, and the absurdity of human existence. The protagonist, Josef K., is arre...
Reviews for The Tell-tale Heart