Structure

The short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is told by an unnamed narrator who describes the events surrounding his murder of an old man. The narrator seems to be recalling the event at some further date, meaning that most of the story can be read as one long flashback. 

Since “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a horror story, there is rising tension throughout the text. It is revealed early on that the story is about a murder: “I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever” (p. 155, ll. 1-2). The tension then rises further when the narrator describes how he sneaks into the old man’s bedroom at night, and further still when the old man almost discovers him on the eighth night. This finally leads to the point of no return where the old man is killed, and tens...