The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

from Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems

5 pages, eBook

Can also get it at: EastoftheWeb.com

Story Rating: 5 Stars

Content Ratings:

Violence: Mild-Moderate-Brutal

Swearing: Clean-Light-Filthy

Sexual Content: White-Pink-Red

Maniacal - Deranged - Kooky

Summary:

A young man plots the end of the old man’s vulture eye, that so disturbs him.

My Thoughts:

Poe’s repetitive language and slow way of revealing the horror in his stories is what lures me in. He manages to make the narrator here so disturbing, you simultaneously want to cringe away as if he were whispering in your ear, but also laugh in amusement at his craziness. Classic tale!

Quotes:

“He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever if fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” -Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart

“Ha!—would a madman have been so wise as this?.” -Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart 

“Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief—oh, no!—it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe.” -Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart

“And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!—this I thought, and this I think.” -Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart