THE TELL-TALE HEART by Edgar Allan Poe: Summary & Analysis

English homework giving you trouble?

SUMMARY 0:36
ANALYSIS
Narrator's identity 5:00
The vulture eye 5:54
Narrator's mindset 8:21, 10:17
The heartbeat 8:51
Links to other stories 11:58

Hope that helps! If you have questions or you were interested in a different story or author, let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can do. Good luck!

Poe, Edgar A. "The Tell-Tale Heart." The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales, The New American Library, Inc., 1960, pp.173-178.

© 2020 Carrie Hoover

[pheebenukpezah]

You summarized in 13 minutes what my prof did in 3 hours. this was very helpful and now I can figure out what I need to do for my in class analysis tomorrow.

[lesterstone]

I always associated the sound of the old man's heart with the narrator having an anxiety attack or a panic attack brought on by the excitement of the murder or the fear of being caught. When people have these panic attacks, they often hear the pulsing of their own heart which I think the narrator confused with the old man's. I agree with the other commentors. You give a great presentation.

[learninglanguagearts]

As an avid reader of Poe, I enjoyed the madness, the guilty conscience, the hallucinations... classic Edgar Allan Poe. Thanks for the analysis! 👍👍👍

[ranamostafa]

Lately, I have been obsessed with this channel. I wanted almost every video. The way you explain and analyze is incredible. I really wish you could have a video on The Raven. It would be so helpful.

[jenniferchant]

Your lively and enthusiastic tone is such a welcome change from most literary analyses on YouTube- thank you!! 🌈

[oubaitolba]

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[maliixbn]

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[tedrobbins]

Aside an aside, I love the naval synergy. The term “old man” is a naval term / jargon referring to the captain of a vessel or ship. This could be a sailor struggling with the orders of a ship captain towards a mutiny. The imagery of the narrator placing his head in to watch the sleeping old man makes me think of a navel porthole / window. The scrutiny of the "old man's" vulture’s eye the way military leaders find deficiency in almost everything. In a sense, the narrator is communicating that the “old man” is being questioned / watched by the crew. This could also symbolize the captains inability to set the path forward and has lost the confidence of the crew. And yet, for no clear reason the individual(s) feel the need to mutiny and kill the captain or “old man”. Oddly enough he is buried below the boards (plank or ship) in a way that is flawless save the beating or pounding of the heart or waves. The ship law enforcement come to investigate the captains quarters and the killer sits soundly over the murder seen indicating his comfort level with the act of murder and his craft of killing save the beating sound of the waves on the hull, like a clocks ticking - endless and triggering him to madness of his actions.

[aliferrafael]

I'm brazilian and I really love the explanation

[littlewhale]

Everyone here for school meanwhile in a junior who loves Edgar Allan Poe and wanted to find the audiobook

[elsanto]

Thanks for the contribution of teaching English.

[zacbutoryak]

I have greatly appreciated your summary and analysis of numerous short stories that I had in my English Lit class this semester. It was incredibly helpful and insightful. Keep up the great work that you are doing

[sophia_a]

Thank you!! I wish you a lot more of views and subscribers, because you deserve it.

[jadenyeo]

I have a test on this tomorrow, and this is life-saving. Thank you so much 🙏 ❤️

[samuelstlaurent]

thanks for this video, im writing a literary analysis paper and I reference some of your lines as well as your video.

[melishereforwhat]

I definitely think you deserve a lot more viewing and subscribers. You explained it very clearly and well. Thank you!

[jmarsh]

I'm doing an assignment on this at the moment and having written alot already I'm left needing a paragraph on the vulture eye so your interpretations were very helpful.
I've seen some say it represent knowledge but can't stop think about the veil over the eye. There's also a lot of contradiction in that he is like a scavenging vulture, similar to how he believes in his supernatural senses, and yet it seems it is his own heart he hears beating. He never refers to his own eye, and yet with the contradictions that prove he is insane it could be seen that the eye is a poor gateway to truth. Poe was particularly interested in the insanity plea made in the case of the murder by James Woods, of which he wrote. The court omitted an event where Woods had appeared unusually calm before murdering his daughter, I think Poe felt that the insanity plea was questionable given the clarity Woods had shown, perhaps suggesting that it was a premeditated murder.

[juanadiaz]

Wow helped me a lot. Love your analysis 👏🏻👏🏻 you the best!!

[KinkRanger]

Hey Carrie, love your analyses of poe’s works. You are so brilliantly making the whole thing so clear and easy to understand and comprehend, it’s just amazing. I was wondering do you think you’ll do Dream-Land some time possibly? I’d be looking forward to that. :)

[j.c.ca.o.l]

I always like hearing about Edgar A. Poe