Tell-Tale Heart Response to Literature Essay

"I think it was the eye. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold." (Poe, 625/626) This man had a problem with the old man's eye, so vexed by it, the man killed his master. Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allen Poe, is a story that will leave you thinking. It is about an old man that "has the eye of a vulture" (625). This eye drives his servant so crazy, he ends up throwing a bed over his unsuspecting master. I think Tell- Tale Heart has imaginable imagery, mesmerizing climax and a breathtaking surprise ending.

"I now grew very pale; but talked more fluently"(632). Can't you just picture in your mind a guilty, crazy man babbling like a brook? Poe's descriptive imagery let me see in my mind what he was probably thinking of when he wrote Tell-Tale Heart. "He had the eye of a vulture- a pale blue eye with film over it". With this quote, I'm actually able to picture the creepy eye in my head. Poe lets me picture the eye and lets me see why the servant would go insane because of it. "With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leapt into the room." I can easily envision this delirious man leap vehemently into a pitch black room. It's effortless to visualize how insane he must look, with the lights of the lantern dancing off his crazed face. Edgar Allen Poe actually makes me shiver with the intense imagery he draws in my mind.

Tell-Tale Heart's climax was so suspenseful; I just had to keep reading. I was completely engrossed with the story. "I heard a groan, and I knew it was a groan of moral terror." I can only imagine the kind of distress and apprehension the old man must have been feeling. He probably was just lying there, not knowing these were the last few moments of his life. "With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leapt into the room." These were the words of the madman right before he killed his master. This gave me the goose bumps thinking that somebody would cause someone that much distress. This climax had me biting my nails all the way to the surprise ending.

The ending was the part that amazed or, surprised me the most. "There entered three men who introduced themselves with perfect suavity as officers of the police." This is not what surprised me. Normally, when there is a disturbance, the police come. What shocked me was when the madman let them in and had the search the whole house. This shows that he was arrogant just as he was crazy. "Villains!" I cried, "Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- Tear up the planks! -- Here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!" This is the concluding sentence, and the most astounding part of the story. Why admit that he was the murderer? Why even admit that there was a murder? It was guilt. The surprise ending definitely left me open-mouthed.

Tell-Tale Heart is one of the most engrossing, heinous, and distressing stories I have ever read. Edgar Allen Poe cleverly worded his climax, had very realistic imagery, and shocked me with his ending. This shows what you get when there is a crazy man that hates his master's eye.

~Haley Price (: