In Edgar Allan Poe's short-story, "The Tell-Tale Heart," the speaker of the story
tries to convince the reader that he is not mad. But by the speaker telling the story as he
does, he answers his own question that he asks the reader at the start of the story, "...why
will you say I am mad?" ( Introduction to Literature, page 415). He attempts to tell his
story in a calm manner, but as he describes various parts, he begins ranting with a great
The speaker pays particular attention to emphasize specific parts of his story. He
is sure to highlight that he is simply nervous, and that he could not possibly be mad
because as he says, "the disease had sharpened my senses" (415). Rather the disease, as
he refers to his madness, only allowed him to hear more clearly those sounds of his
imagination, to see what his mind wanted him to see. He kills the old man because the
old man had an evil eye of that of a vulture which would make the speaker's blood run
cold when he was looked upon. He even says he loved the old man, never does the
speaker refer to him as anything else, but because of how the old man's eye looked the
speaker needed to destroy it. This is the start of the speaker's madness, and as the reader
listens to what the speaker says, the madness within the speaker becomes apparent.
For eight nights in a row, the speaker went to the old man's chamber and cast a
shred of light upon his eye that the speaker so hated. For seven nights, it was always
shut, and the speaker could do nothing because it was only the eye that he hated. On the
eighth, the speaker makes some noise accidentally, and as a result when he finally shines
the light upon the eye it is open for the speaker to see. At this point the level of the
speaker's madness heightens greatly, with his ears hearing "the beating of the old man's
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