Tell Tale Heart - Edgar Allen Poe

After reading “the tell tale heart” story by Edgar Allen Poe I surprised myself with how quickly I got caught up in the reading. The conflict in this story is not an external conflict, but an internal one. The protagonist is the killer and the person who took the antagonist’s life; the old man. With mixed emotions about the old man and the murder, the protagonist shares the feelings and thoughts he/she experienced pre and post the deed. I get a feeling that this person is happy and relieved that they finally killed the old man who bothered them so much, but towards the end the feeling seems to change. When police comes knocking and are welcomed into the home, I believe they were sincerely convinced that the protagonist is innocent. Though somehow the guilt of the murder gets to the protagonist’s head, it gets too much for them to bear. The story seems to contain two main emotional conflicts based upon the dislike of the old man as well as the guilt of a murder.The climax of this story is also the same part where one of the conflicts is resolved; when the murder actually appears the old man is attacked and murdered under the bed.