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Edgar Allan PoeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
The body plays a central role in “The Tell-Tale Heart.” The murder is inspired by the old man’s eye and is purportedly solved by his heart. Additionally, the murder itself takes the form of dismemberment.
The eyes are traditionally considered windows to the soul, but they also allow people to observe and interact with the surrounding world. In this story the eye could represented the ability to think rationally. The narrator’s obsession with the old man’s eye and its subsequent suggest that they have lost their ability to reason.
The heart is often interpreted as a symbol of a person’s ability to feel emotions, such as love. Thus, it could be seen as a representation of morality. Right before the murder, the narrator hears a loud heartbeat and assumes it is the old man’s. This could mean the protagonist’s rational or moral side is trying to stop the crime. However, the narrator kills the source of the heartbeat, symbolically destroying their better nature. At the end, balance is re-established when either the heart begins beating loudly once more, allowing the crime to be solved and the criminal punished. In the end, the murderer’s faulty logic and rationality are defeated by the return of morality.
By Edgar Allan Poe
A Dream Within a Dream
A Dream Within a Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
Annabel Lee
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
Berenice
Berenice
Edgar Allan Poe
Hop-Frog
Hop-Frog
Edgar Allan Poe
Ligeia
Ligeia
Edgar Allan Poe
Tamerlane
Tamerlane
Edgar Allan Poe
The Black Cat
The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe
The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe
The Conqueror Worm
The Conqueror Worm
Edgar Allan Poe
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
Edgar Allan Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe
The Gold Bug
The Gold Bug
Edgar Allan Poe
The Haunted Palace
The Haunted Palace
Edgar Allan Poe
The Imp of the Perverse
The Imp of the Perverse
Edgar Allan Poe
The Lake
The Lake
Edgar Allan Poe
The Man of the Crowd
The Man of the Crowd
Edgar Allan Poe
The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death
Edgar Allan Poe
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Edgar Allan Poe
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
Edgar Allan Poe
The Oval Portrait
The Oval Portrait
Edgar Allan Poe