The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe copy

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Tale Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. True nervous,
very very dreadfully nervous. I had been and am, But
why will you say that I am mad? The disease
had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above

(00:20):
all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all
things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard
many things in hell. How then am I mad? Hearken
and observe, how healthily, how calmly I can tell you
the whole story. It is impossible to say how first
the idea entered my brain, But once conceived, it haunted

(00:43):
me day and night. Object there was none passion, there
was none. I loved the old man. He had never
wronged me, he had never given me insult for his gold.
I had no desire. I think it was his eye. Yes,
it was this. He had the eye of a vulture,

(01:04):
a pale blue eye with the film over it. Whenever
it fell upon me, my blood ran cold, and so
by degrees, very gradually I made up my mind to
take the life of the old man, and thus read
myself of the eye forever. Now this is the point
you fancy me mad. Mad men know nothing but you

(01:28):
should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely
I proceeded. With what caution, with what foresight, with what
dissimilation I went to work. I was never kinder to
the old man than during the whole week before I
killed him. And every night, about midnight I turned the

(01:50):
latch of his door and opened it oh so gently.
And then when I had made an opening sufficient for
my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed
closed that no light shone out. And then I thrust
in my head. Oh you would have laughed to see
how cunningly I thrust it in. I moved it slowly,

(02:13):
very very slowly, so that I might not disturb the
old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place
my whole head within the opening, so far that I
could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha
would a madman had been so wise as this. And
then when my head was well in the room, I

(02:34):
undid the lantern cautiously, Oh so cautiously, cautiously, for the
hinges creaked. I undid it just so much that a
single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this
I did for seven long nights, every night, just at midnight.
But I found the eye always closed, and so it

(02:57):
was impossible to do the work. For it was not
the old man who vexed me, but his evil eye.
And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly
into the chamber and spoke courageously to him, calling him
by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he
has passed the night. So you see, he would have

(03:18):
been a very profound old man. Indeed, to suspect that
every night, just at twelve I looked in upon him
while he slept. Upon the eighth night, I was more
than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute
hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that
night had I felt the extent of my own powers,

(03:41):
of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of
triumph to think that there I was, opening the door
little by little, had he not even to dream of
my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea,
And perhaps he heard me, for he moved on the
bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that

(04:03):
I drew back, but no, his room was as black
as pitch, with the thick darkness. For the shutters were close,
fastened through fear of robbers, and so I knew that
he could not see the opening of the door, and
I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily. I had my
head in and was about to open the lantern when

(04:24):
my thumb slipped upon the tent fastening, and the old
man sprang up in bed, crying out, Who's there. 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. He was still
sitting up in the bed, listening, just as I have

(04:45):
done night after night, hearkening to the death watches and
the wall. Presently I heard a slight groan, and I
knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was
not a groan of pain or of grief, Oh no,
it was the a low, stifled sound that arises from
the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I

(05:06):
knew the sound well many a night, just at midnight,
when all the world slept. It has welled up from
my own bosom, deepening with its dreadful echo the terrors
that distracted me. I say, I knew it well. I
knew what the old man felt, and pitied him. Although
I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been

(05:27):
lying awake ever since the first slight noise when he
had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever
since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy
them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself,
it is nothing but the wind in the chimney. It
is only a mouse crossing the floor, or it is

(05:47):
merely a cricket which is made a single chirp. Yes,
he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions,
but he had found all in vain, all in vain,
because death, in approaching him, had stalked with his black
shadow before him and enveloped the victim. And it was
the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him

(06:09):
to feel although he neither saw nor heard to feel
the presence of my head within the room. When I
had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him
lie down, I resolved to open a little, a very
very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it.
You cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily, until at length a

(06:34):
simple damn ray, like the thread of the spider, shot
from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.
It was open, wide, wide open, and I grew furious
as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness,
all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it

(06:55):
that chilled the very marrow in my bones. But I
could see nothing else of the old man's face or person,
for I had directed the ray, as if by instinct,
precisely upon the damn spot. And have I not told
you that what you mistake for madness is but over
acuteness of the sense. Now I say, there came to

(07:16):
my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a
watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound
well too. It was the beating of the old man's heart.
It increased my fury as the beating of a drum
stimulates the soldier into courage. But even yet I refrained
and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless.

(07:41):
I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon
the eye. Meantime, the hellish tattoo of the heart increased,
it grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant.
The old man's terror must have been extreme. It grew louder,
I say, louder every moment. Do you mark me well?

(08:05):
I have told you that I am nervous, So I am,
And now, at the dead hour of the night, amid
the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a
noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet for
some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the
beating grew louder louder. I thought the heart must burst.

(08:29):
And now a new anxiety seized me. The sound would
be heard by a neighbor. The old man's hour had come.
With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and
leaped into the room. He shrieked once once only, and
an instant I dragged him to the floor and pulled
the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily to

(08:50):
find the deed so far done. But for many minutes
the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however,
did not vex me. It would not be heard through
the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead.
I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he
was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the

(09:13):
heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation.
He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.
If still you think me mad, you will think so
no longer. When I described the wise precautions I took
for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and
I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all, I

(09:36):
dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head, and the arms,
and the legs. I then took up three planks from
the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings.
I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that
no human eye, not even his, could have detected anything wrong.

(09:58):
There was nothing to wash out, no stain of any kind,
no blood spot whatever. I had been too wary for
that A tub had caught all. Ha ha. When I
had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock,
still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour,
there came a knocking at the street door. I went

(10:18):
down to open it with a light heart, for what
had I now to fear? There entered three men, who
introduced themselves with perfect suavity as officers of the police.
A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night,
suspicion of foul play had been aroused, information had been
lodged at the police office, and they the officers, had

(10:40):
been deputed to search the premises. I smiled, for what
had I to fear? I bade the gentleman welcome. The shriek,
I said, was my own in a dream. The old
man I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took
my visitors all over the house. I bade them search,
search well. I led them at length to his chamber.

(11:01):
I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed, and the enthusiasm
of my confidence. 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. The officers were satisfied my manner

(11:24):
had convinced them I was singularly at ease. They sat,
and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things,
but ere long I felt myself getting pale and wished
them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing
in my ears, But still they sat and still chatted.

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The ringing became more distinct. It continued and became more distinct.
I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling,
but it continued and gained definiteness, until at length I
found that the noise was not within my ears, no doubt.
I now grew very pale. But I talked more fluently

(12:06):
and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased, And
what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound,
much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped
in cotton. I gasped for breath, and yet the officers
heard it not. I talked more quickly, more vehemently, but

(12:26):
the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles
and a high key, and with violent gesticulations, but the
noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I
paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as
if excited to fury by the observations of the men.

(12:47):
But the noise steadily increased. Oh God, what could I do?
I foamed, I raved, I swore, I swung the chair
upon which I had been sitting and grated it upon
the board. Words. But the noise arose over all and
continually increased. It grew louder, louder louder, And still the

(13:10):
men chatted pleasantly and smiled. Was it possible they heard, not,
Almighty God, No, no, they heard. They suspected, they knew.
They were making a mockery of my horror. This I thought,
and this I think. But anything was better than this agony,

(13:30):
Anything was more tolerable than this derision. I could bear
those hypocritical smiles. No longer I felt that I must
scream or die. And now again hark louder, louder, louder, louder, villains,
I shrieked, dissemble no more, I admit the deed, tear

(13:53):
up the planks. Here, here it is the beating of
his hideous heart. End of the tale, all tail heart