In this short story written by Edgar Alan Poe, the narrator wants to assure us that he is sane, although he has committed a murder. However, it very soon becomes clear to the readers that he is insane. He is obsessed with his roommate's evil eye, which is why he kills him:

"I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye … but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye."

After killing his roommate, the narrator chops him up. He, however, becomes paranoid, convinced that the dead man's heart is still beating. When the police arrives, he hears a heart beat, and assumes that they can hear it too. He believes that they know his secret and thus confesses to the police:

"Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision!"

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3 years ago

Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of the text.

snow_tiger [21]

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3 years ago

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