The Tell-Tale Heart is a story by Edgar Allan Poe. It is about this man who most people would consider him crazy or a madman. This man, who appears to be mad, thinks he can hear many things in heaven, earth, and hell, but says he is not mad because he has heard all things in the places mentioned above. One night this mad man, as you can call him, decides to do something horrible. He hills an old man, but not because he envied him or for a purpose. The only reason he killed the old man was because of his eye of vulture, a pale blue eye with a film over it. The madman could not stand the eye of vulture because whenever he saw it, his blood ran cold. For this reason he decided to kill the old man and get rid of his eye of vulture forever. One week before he killed the old man, he was kinder to him and every night, about midnight, he would go into the old man’s bedroom. He had a lantern, which he turned on, so a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. For seven nights he always did this around midnight, but the vulture eye happened to be closed, therefore he could not proceed with his plans. On the eighth night, the madman was more cautious when opening the door to the old man’s bedroom. The old man was awake, but the madman did not draw back, he kept on pushing the door until he had his head in the bedroom. When he tried to open the lantern, his thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man was startled. For a whole hour he was still and stood quiet. The old man was trying to comfort himself because he was scared, but he could not quite be comfortable. After waiting a long time, the mad man opened the door and saw the vulture eye, which was wide open. Seeing the vulture eye mad him furious and his bones chilled. Even though the old man was awake, the madman could not see his face or him, all could see was the eye. The mad man stood staring at the eye, but he could hear a strange noise, which grew louder and louder. Thinking that the heart must burst, he guessed the old man’s hour had come. The madman yelled when he leaped into the room and killed the old man. He put the bed over him until he could no longer hear his heart beating. Once the old man was dead, he dismembered the corpse in silence. He cut off the head and the arms and legs. There was no evidence of the old man being dead because he had wary about his plan. By four o’clock he had finished with the old man and there was a knock on the door. Three police officers had come because a neighbor heard a shriek. The madman let them in because he had “nothing to fear.” He began to fell pale and heard a sound, the sound of the beating of a hideous heart. He completely went mad and eventually admitted where the sound was coming from, except the officers seemed to not notice. “It is the beating of his hideous heart!” (p. 8) represents the story. I think it represents the story because the mad man kept hearing a sound that was the beating of the old man’s hideous heart.
The main character in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” does not have name. For the reason that the main character does not have a name or is mentioned in the story, I decided to give him the name of the madman to make it easier. The madman seems to be insane because he hears voices, or more like weird and loud sounds. He definitely has a mental disorder judging by the way he does and says many things. The madman seems to have the mental disorder known as schizophrenia because he often imagines thinks like the eye of a vulture in an old man. The madman describes himself as a very nervous person, but not mad. His emotions are not quite clear, but most of the time he is furious about the vulture eye because he thinks it is evil. He can definitely be described as an insane person because of the things he does. He is a lunatic because he dismembered the body of a corpse. I think anyone would describe him as insane for this. The madman needs medical attention because he has schizophrenia, which you can tell from the story. He is a very dangerous man, especially because of the disease he has. Even though he is insane, he is cautious about everything he does. He knows exactly every step of his plans. This for a crazy person is not common because they are supposed to not be able to use common sense, since they are diagnosed with a mental disease like schizophrenia. Though the madman is completely crazy, he is an intelligent person. I have to admit that for someone who happens to be insane, he is intelligent because he knows each step of his plan and that is being smart. “He had the eye of a vulture,” (p. 3) represents the madman because this “eye of a vulture” is what the man is always thinking about. It was because of the eye of vulture that the man became insane and did what he did to the old man. The eye of the vulture was his motivation to kill the old man. It all started with him thinking that the eye looked like one of a vulture and so he thought it was evil. He did like the old man, but he just could not stand that eye of the old man. He did not mind when the eye was closed because he could not see it and make him furious or afraid. It was until one night that his motivation grew stronger and that was when he saw the eye of a vulture staring at him. That was the night he had finished his plans, he had gotten rid of the evil eye forever. His only motive for killing the old man was the eye of a vulture and nothing else. That was why the line “He had the eye of a vulture,” (p. 3) describes the main character and is also what motivates him to kill the old man. He was cruel to the old man because he dismembered his corpse, but he did this because he was insane, which pretty much describes him.
“The Tell-Tale Heart” turned into a film would be like the short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. In this story I actually liked how it turned out to be. I thought that the outcome of “The Tell-Tale Heart” was really good. If I were to turn “The Tell-Tale Heart” into a film, I would start off with the crazy man whose name was not mentioned in the short story. I think that in a film, “The Tell-Tale Heart” should have a beginning were the crazy guys kills the old man. Yes, the film would start off by showing what this crazy man did. Then it would just go to were the crazy man killed the old man. I kind of like the idea of starting the film with this crazy man committing his crime. Then maybe the crazy man should narrate how it was that it all started. Basically the crazy man would be telling his story of how “The Tell-Tale Heart” came to be his story. The story starts with this guy saying that many people believe that he is crazy, but he says, “I am not crazy, maybe mad, but not crazy.” Then the crazy man would think that his companion, the old man is somehow strange. The crazy man thinks that he knows why it is that the old man seems strange to him. Ah yes! The old man seems strange because he reminds him of evil. Well not exactly the old man, but his eye. It is the eye of a vulture, an animal that the crazy man feels is a threat to him. “Am I going mad?” asks the crazy guy. “No, of course not.” He says to himself. Then the crazy man thinks of a way to make himself stop thinking that he is going mad. He believes that it is the old man’s eye that is making him mad. To this idea, he figures that to get rid of his insane ideas what he must do is really simple. The crazy man thinks that in order to stop himself from going crazy or mad, he should get rid of the eye of vulture. For no apparent reason the crazy man seems to believe that it is the vulture eye which makes him go insane. Just like in the short story, the crazy man happens to be kinder to the old man a week before he decides to kill him. For the entire week the crazy man has several ideas on how to get rid of the vulture eye. Finally the time comes for the eye of vulture to be gone forever. It is midnight and he decides to go into the old man’s bedroom. Suddenly the mad man hears a sound that gets louder by the minute. It was driving him crazy and he knew that the time had com e. The crazy man has a knife and he stabs the old man in his vulture eye. The old man dies within seconds and the vulture eye will no longer bother him. The authorities arrive at the mad man’s house because some people had heard screams. When the police are about to leave, the mad man hears a beating of a hideous heart. He reveals everything that he has done and has now completely gone insane. At the end of the film, the mad man retells his story. The reason for this is that he is locked at a mental institution and he has nothing better to do, except retell the story of “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
It is about five o’clock in the afternoon. Everything is turning black. It is getting dark and I don’t know what to do. I am very bored and look out the window. As I stare through the window I see a conflagration and hear a noise- KABOOM! I say to myself, “What is going on?” Then I decide to go outside. As I unlock the door, I realize that it isn’t over. The walls start to shake and I see that the ground is cracking! I go hide inside the closet, afraid of what is happening. Then I decide I better look for my sister. I had forgotten she had gone to play outside. The ground is still cracking and shaking. Tears start to fall down my cheeks. I am afraid that my sister might be hurt or worst… dead. I see people crying as they look for their relatives and friends. There are many people who are hurt and I can feel their pain. Everything outside is so sad and it hearts me really bad. I still have not found my sister and as each second passes, I start losing hope. Suddenly I get thrown to the ground. As I lay here on the ground I scream. There is a dead person! I try to get up, but all my strength is gone. I can no longer get up, I just lay there… next to the dead body, staring into its painful sad eyes. I have not yet found my sister and I say I will never see her again. Now I have really lost hope and I am weak for I can longer stay alive. I lay here thinking that I am going to die and that I won’t be able to find my sister. I start to close my eyes. I hear someone saying, “Don’t die, open your eyes.” “You are going to be okay.” The voice seems familiar, but I cannot recall who it belongs to. I completely close my eyes and I am in a different world. I can no longer hear the voice. “I can’t be dead; I have to find my sister!” I scream. Again I hear the voice. This time I open my eyes. I can’t die until I see my sister. Now I recall the voice… it was my sister. I see her clearly. “Don’t die, I need you!” She says. “Hey don’t cry, everything will be fine, I am not going anywhere.” I say to her. “You promise?” she asks. “Look I cannot promise you anything, but if I were to die, I will always be watching you.” I say. “Don’t leave me!” she cries. “I love you sis, promise me you won’t cry if I die.” “I can’t, you have to live.” she responds. “Promise me.” “I promise you!” she says. “Hey sis, I love you more than anything.” I say. “I love you too!” she replies. With that I close my eyes to stop the pain from hurting. 
