The Tell-Tale Heart (Poe)
Short Summary
In an old house, presumably in the mid-19th century, a man became obsessed with an elderly man's pale blue eye, which reminded him of a vulture's eye.
For eight nights, he crept into the old man's room at midnight, shining a thin ray of light on the dreaded eye, but found it closed. On the eighth night, the old man woke up and sat in terror for an hour. When the narrator finally saw the eye open, he killed the old man, dismembered the body, and hid the pieces under the floorboards.
When police officers arrived to investigate a reported shriek, the narrator confidently welcomed them and led them through the house. As they sat chatting in the old man's room, directly above the hidden corpse, the narrator began hearing the sound of a heartbeat growing louder and louder. Driven mad by the sound that the officers seemed not to hear, he finally broke down.
Villains! I shrieked, dissemble no more! I admit the deed! — tear up the planks! — here, here! — it is the beating of his hideous heart!
Detailed Summary
Chapter divisions added by editors.
The Narrator's Obsession
A man insisted he was not mad, but rather blessed with heightened senses, particularly his acute hearing.
True! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute.
He lived with an old man whom he claimed to love, never having been wronged by him. However, the old man's pale blue eye, covered by a film, haunted the narrator. This 'vulture eye' filled him with such dread that he resolved to kill the old man to rid himself of it forever.
The Eight Nights of Watching
For seven consecutive nights, the narrator crept into the old man's room at midnight. With extreme caution, he opened the door and inserted a dark lantern through the gap. Each time, he found the old man sleeping with his eye closed, preventing him from completing his deadly mission.
It was open — wide, wide open — and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness — all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones.
On the eighth night, while performing his ritual, the narrator's thumb slipped on the lantern's fastening, alerting the old man. The old man sat up in bed, crying out, "Who's there?" For an hour, both men remained frozen - one sitting in bed, listening intently, the other standing in the darkness, waiting.
The Murder
Finally, the narrator heard what he believed to be the old man's heartbeat growing increasingly loud. The sound drove him to such frenzy that he feared neighbors might hear it. In a fit of panic, he burst into the room with his lantern and killed the old man, pulling the heavy bed over his body.
But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me — the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern.
After ensuring the old man was dead, the narrator methodically dismembered the body and concealed it beneath the floorboards of the chamber. He worked with such precision that no blood stains remained visible.
The Police Investigation
At four in the morning, three police officers arrived to investigate a reported shriek. The narrator confidently welcomed them, explaining that he had shouted during a dream and that the old man was away in the country.
And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over acuteness of the senses? — now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
As the officers chatted casually, the narrator began to hear what he believed was the dead man's heartbeat growing louder beneath the floorboards. The sound increased in volume until, driven mad by guilt and fear, he confessed to the murder and begged the officers to tear up the planks and find the body.