The Tell-Tale Heart By: Kareem. A The Tell-Tale Heart is a story about a guy who is the caretaker of a old man who has a vulture like eye in which the old man gets scared and freaked out of the eye and is fed up with the old man’s stares and he goes on to commit a murder during the men’s sleep. Character trait #1 – Insane The narrator in this story is truly a insane person, he may try to say how he is not a madman in the story but truly he is. He loves the old man as said in the book “Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me.
He had never given me insult” that is clear proof that the narrator is truly insane in that he would even think about murdering all because of his eye and that was the only reason. Evidence to prove he is truly Insane is the way he had killed the old man he had loved him but yet gave him a unpleasant death by awakening him from his sleep and had to keep a light open facing the vulture eye to keep a reason for the narrator to murder the innocent man.
A quote that is in the story “every night just at midnight, but i found the eye always closed, and so it was impossible to do the work, for it was not the old man who vexed me but his Evil Eye. This quote really shows how the narrator would and could not kill the old man since his eye would always be closed because he would remember that it was not the old man who has done him wrong but it was the vulture eye that had triggered the narrator to commit this murder. Character trait #2 – Proud The narrator in this story is really proud. He is completely aware of his actions and even takes pride with what he had planned and done and how he had done it.
He even talks about how wise he was and how he was sure he would get away with it in these quotes “But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded — with what caution — with what foresight, with what dissimulation, I went to work! ” This really proves how much he is proud of what he has done he tells how wisely he was, how cautious he was. It is clear that he was aware of his actions as he said he would stay hours at a time just watching the old man sleep and wait for his eye to open to see that vulture eye so he can kill it with the old man.
He really is proud though, as the police walked in after the old man’s shriek and after he had placed the body under 3 planks of wood as you can see he was so proud that he had the audacity to do such a move and in this quote it sums it all up shows how he thinks he’s smart “I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.
In this as it reads how he is proud of the perfect triumph of his daring and risky move he had placed his very own chair under the corpse he had just buried. How proud you must be to do such a thing is unbelievable and this really shows how proud he is for that short little bit. Character trait #3 – Guilty As i explained the narrator is truly proud of his work for the assassination of the vulture eye of the old man, but once the narrator realizes and begins to understand more who he had actually and realized that he had just murdered a friend, a companion, a buddy to say the least that is when he truly begins to feel guilt.
After placing his chair over the deceased corpse of the old man it gives the reader the idea that he is beginning to feel like a psychopath in which I personally believe he is, but that is a matter of opinion. But what is fact is the way he begins to act and feel after the police had come over. In this quote its unambiguous that he is feeling guilty or even feeling regret. “But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer!
I felt that i must scream or die! ” In this quote you see how he couldn’t tolerate this agony. He felt guilty inside since not only did he do away with that vulture eve but as well the old man who has that eye and without that eye is a friend of the narrator. The narrator did not think of that during his hours of him lingering around watch the old man rest. Not until later had he felt that grief of the old man. Character trait #4 – Patient This narrator is truly a patient guy.
He would wait hours and hours at a time just awaiting the moment that old man would open his eye. There is many evidence of the patience that this man acquires. In this quote you clearly see how patient he truly was. “I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour i did not move a muscle, and in the meantime i did not hear him lie down. ” In this you could see he would wait a whole hour without moving a muscle and he even says himself he spent a hour just slipping his head into the door so no one could hear him walk into the old man’s room.
Now patience isn’t only being able to wait for a long time as you can see in its definition right here “able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. ” This describes the narrator until he had felt guilt, he was able to wait 8 days for his problem with the old man not being able to open his eye without being annoyed or anxious in fact he had plenty of pride as I already explained of being able to complete the murder without being annoyed as someone who is inpatient would’ve ended it way earlier and not continued with it due to the special situation of aving to have the eye open you see.
He is truly a patient man until guilt comes along and messes it up as you can see. Conclusion As you can see the narrator who is a mysterious person whose name is unknown to us has certain traits that are clear to see like being insane and deranged and would kill a friend just because of a part of their body that they did not enjoy. Also he is proud of all the work he had done and how confident he was even placing his own chair to sit on top of the 3 very planks in which he had buried the old man.
Further you could see that he was very guilty of the actions that he had done due to his heart beating fast and beginning to comprehend his actions. Finally it’s evident that you can see he is very patient willing to wait hours and days just for the eye of the old man to open to have a reason to kill him. These are all character traits of the narrator in the short story Tell-Tale Heart.