Summary

"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe starts with the narrator of the story saying that he will prove that he is not insane by describing the carefully planned murder he has committed.

The narrator is scared and enraged by the blind eye of an old man he lives with. He sees the eye as evil due to its blue colour, so he plans to murder the man. For seven days, the narrator treats the old man very nicely during the day and spies on him during the night. He enters the man's room every night, shining down a ray of light on the blue eye; however, the old man's eye is always closed.

On the eighth night, the old man wakes up when the narrator makes noise while entering his room. The narrator is aware that the old man is frightened and decides to wait. After standing completely still for an hour,...