"Tell-Tale Heart" is one of the shortest short stories Edgar Allan Poe had ever written. It is a magnificent tale of mental deterioration in which Poe uses his wording very efficiently. The story is told by an unnamed narrator who is attempting to defend his sanity yet confessing to having killed an old man. It is one of the greatest stories ever written and Poe uses literary devices such as point of view and symbolism …showed first 75 words of 541 total…

…showed last 75 words of 541 total…mad is that he unwillingly admits to a murder, which betrays the insanity he attempted to deny. ""Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed...it is the beating of his hideous heart!"" In conclusion, "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a story in which the idea of madness is developed through the first-person narration, the symbol of the eye in relation to a person's identity and the actual theme of madness throughout the story.