Themes

Love & Hate: Love and hate is a big theme in The Tell Tale Heart. The Narrator in the story claims he loves the old man, but has a conflicting feeling of hatred for him because the old mans "vulture eye" is driving the narrator to madness. The narrator goes to a great length to try to convince the reader that he did not kill the old man because he hated him, but rather that he hated his eye.

Guilt: In the Tell Tale Heart, guilt is what eventually drives the narrator to confess his crime to the police. The guilt that the narrator feels is so intense that he begins to imagine hearing the now dead old man's heart beating from under the floorboards. The strong feeling of guilt that the narrator carries is present because the narrator knows that the old man did not deserve to be killed.


Deception by appearance: Appearance very easily deceives both the narrator and the reader in the Tell Tale Heart.  In the story, the old man on the inside is a harmless, innocent, kind human being, but due to his geriatric appearance and "vulture eye", the narrator is blind to the old man's inner personality. While reading the story, the reader at first has no reason to be suspicious of the narrator because they are described as physically appearing normal. As the story progresses, the reader begins to see past the narrator's facade and can see his inner evil.


Mental Illness: The Narrator in the Tell Tale Heart tries to convince the reader from the beginning that he is not mad (insane), but rather he kills the old man so that he will not go insane. The reader figures out that the narrator likely is insane or has some other type of mental issue such as schizophrenia. Most people know that a mentally sane person would not murder their neighbor because of having a discolored eye.