I am presently writing a term paper on Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart". The title itself is an interesting issue. Any idea about the double meanings of "tell-tale heart" will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

-- Anonymous, January 01, 2001

Answers

the heart of the narrator tells the tale because the narrator feels the need to confess, having been overwhelmed by his own guilt. But thenarrator claims that the hert of the old man is telling the cops that he has been killed--so the old man's heart is also telling the tale. In a sense the heart is the "hideous human heart," the human heart that we all share as part of our mortality--death!!

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001