Guilt And Symbolism In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

Do you have a fear? Have you ever been scared of something? Have you ever experienced guilt? Do you feel bad after doing something? Do you know how it feels like to kill someone? Have you ever wondered what guilt or fear could do to you? In his short story, Edgar Allan Poe writes about insanity, guilt, and madness. In Poe’s short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, he begins the story at the old man’s house, where the narrator is trying to kill the old man because the narrator is afraid of its eye and wants to get rid of it forever. The narrator is very annoyed and bothered by the eye. The first complication is the scene when the narrator attempts to sneak into the old man’s room to kill the old man. Instead, when he tries to go in unnoticed and unheard, he accidentally wakes up the old man when his thumb slips upon the tin fastening while trying to open the lantern. The old man wakes up frightened and curious about who came into his room. Then, eventually, the

Symbolism is a literary device that is used when symbols are used to represent something, like an object, that has a deeper understanding or meaning. Poe uses symbolism by using the eye of a vulture as a symbol. The eye of the vulture made the narrator feel all types of feelings and the guilt and fear inside of him starting controlling him. The eye of the vulture represents the eye of the old man. It’s called the Evil Eye. It has a film over the pale blue eye. In paragraph 2, the text states “He had the eye of a vulture -- a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” (Poe par. 2). The eye is being symbolized because the eye represents the old man’s Evil Eye and that the eye is blue. The eye is the reason why he is so scared and has so much fear in him. Poe also uses irony and metaphors to support his argument. Symbolism develops Poe’s argument because it’s the reason the narrator murders the old man, in order to get rid of the