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In "The Tell-Tale Heart," what does the heart beating symbolize?

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In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” what does the heart beating symbolize?

Edgar Allen Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” is a fantastic piece of gothic fiction that details the self-torment of the main character as he goes mad hearing the heartbeat of the person he murdered in the floorboard of his house. The narrator of this grizzly tale attempts to convince his readers that he is sane—however, as the novel progresses, the narrator proves himself to be more and more unhinged. After he kills his housemate, he attempts to deny any feelings of guilt or remorse and continues to claim his sanity. Yet, while police are in his house to question him about the sounds of the man’

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Edgar Allen Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” is a fantastic piece of gothic fiction that details the self-torment of the main character as he goes mad hearing the heartbeat of the person he murdered in the floorboard of his house. The narrator of this grizzly tale attempts to convince his readers that he is sane—however, as the novel progresses, the narrator proves himself to be more and more unhinged. After he kills his housemate, he attempts to deny any feelings of guilt or remorse and continues to claim his sanity. Yet, while police are in his house to question him about the sounds of the man’s shriek of terror, the narrator hears the heartbeat growing louder and louder beneath him, with his guilt and inability to deny his insane act growing by the second. As his realization at what he has done becomes more prominent, so does the sound of the heartbeat of his victim. The more the narrator attempts to deny facing the that he has committed a horrific and completely irrational act against his housemate, the louder the heart beats. He finds that he is unable to be silent in the face of this realization and guilt, and he loudly and desperately admits his crime to the police.



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To me, the beating heart in “The Tell-Tale Heart” symbolizes the murderer’s conscience and/or his guilt.  It seems as though this man  knows that he has committed a horrible crime and the guilt is literally destroying him, eating him up inside like a living creature fighting its way out.  Though a manifestation of his mind,the beating heart is real enough to him to drive him to the verge of insanity and to an admission to the crime.

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