Character Analysis

The Narrator: In the Tell Tale Heart, the narrator appears to be schizophrenic and mentally unstable in general. Knowing that the narrator is not completely sane, the reader can not be certain of the validity for the self description of the narrator. The Narrator, from the beginning of the story, makes a great effort to convince the reader that he is sane, which gives the reader more of a reason to believe he is not. Throughout the story, the narrator has a mentality of "I'm not crazy, and here's why" because he is constantly explaining his motives behind his actions so the reader does not think he is crazy. The narrator begins the story seeming innocent enough, but by the end of the story the narrator reveals his inner evil to the reader. The reader learns how evil the narrator is because only a monster would torture an innocent old man before murdering him.

The Old Man: The Old Man is only described by the narrator whose descriptions are not completely reliable. The narrator describes the old man as being gentile and innocent. The narrator says that the old man had done nothing to intentionally bother him and that the old man was lovable. The narrator says that the only thing about the old man that enrages him and drives him mad is the old man's blue/gray discolored eye that the narrator has nicknamed the "vulture eye."