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The Central Theme Of The Tale-Tell Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

Decent Essays

The central theme of the short story “The Tale-Tell Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is that every person who committed a crime can’t escape the punishment. The thematic subjects are guilt,innocence and the fear of mortality. The sound of the beating heart is interpreted as the narrator’s guilt conscious reminding him of his deed. The narrator finally confesses his crime at the end of the story because his guilt grows so great that he can no longer hold it in. However, this reading of his confession is incongruous with his character. At the beginning of the story, the narrator disassociates himself from the crime, claiming that an invisible force acted on him. The narrator’s insistence that he is sane and the old man’s eye is at fault suggests that the narrator does not regret his action; he blames the murder on external forces that he could not control. Another reading of the story claims that the narrator kills the old man and confesses because of his own fear of mortality. The way in which he describes the “vulture-eye” and the old man suggests his fixation on the man’s age and frailty. He hears death -beetles” in the walls and appears obsessed with time. Once he murders the old man, time seems to stop for him as he loses track of it. He conflates hours and stops focusing on the ticking of clocks. Then, the narrator begins to feel physical symptoms of disease. He grows weak and infirm. At this point, the police come to the house, and the sound of the

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