The Tell-Tale Hearth - Edgar Allan Poe

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. True nervous,
very very dreadfully nervous. I had been an arm But
why would you say that I am mad? The disease
that had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them.
Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard
all things in the heaven and in the earth. I

(00:21):
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 into my brain. But once conceived, it
haunted me day and night. Objects There was none passion,
there was none. I loved the old man. He had

(00:41):
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 hid the eye of
a vulture, a pale blue eye with a film over it.
Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold, and
so by agrees, very gradually I made up my mind

(01:03):
to take the life of the old man, and thus
rid myself of the eye forever. Now this is the
point you fancy me mad. Mad Men know nothing 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. I was never kinder
to the old man than during the whole week before

(01:25):
I killed him. And every night, about midnight I turned
the latch of his door and opened it oh so gently.
And then when I 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.

(01:45):
Oh you would have laughed to see how cunningly I
thrust it in. I moved it slowly, 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 ha Would a madman have
been so wise as this? And then when my head

(02:06):
was well in the room, I 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's eye. And this I did for seven
long nights, every night, just at midnight. But I found

(02:26):
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. 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 passed the night.
So you see, he would have been a very profound

(02:48):
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, of my sagacity. I

(03:09):
could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph to think that
there I was, opening the door little by little, and
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 I drew back, but no,

(03:32):
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 my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening,
and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out,

(03:56):
Who's there. I kept quite still and said nothing. 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 done
night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.
Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it

(04:17):
was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a
groan of pain or of grief, Oh no, it was
the low, stifled sounds arises from the bottom of the
soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well
many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept,
it had welled up in my own bosom, deepening with

(04:38):
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 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

(04:58):
had been trying to fancy them lawseless, but could not.
He had been trying to say to himself, it is
something but the wind in the chimney, It is only
a mouse crossing the floor, or it is merely a
cricket which had 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,

(05:22):
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 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,

(05:44):
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 simple dim
ray like the threat head of the spider shot from
out of the crevice and fell full upon the vulture's eye.

(06:05):
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
that chilled the very marrow in my bones. But I
could see nothing else of the old man's face or person,
for I directed the ray, as if by instinct, precisely

(06:28):
upon the damned spot. And have I not told you
what you mistake for madness is but over acuteness of
the sense. Now I say, there come to 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

(06:51):
the soldier into courage. But even yet I refrained and
kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless.
I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon
the eve. Meantime, the hellish tattoo of the heart increased.
It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant.

(07:12):
The old man's terror must have been extreme. It grew louder,
I say, louder every moment. Do you mark me well?
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

(07:32):
some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the
beating grew louder louder. I thought the heart must burst.
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 in
an instant. I dragged him to the floor and pulled

(07:54):
the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily to
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

(08:17):
was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the
heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation.
He was stone dead. His eyes would trouble me no more.
If you still 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

(08:40):
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 scant links. I then replaced the boards so cleverly,
so cunningly, that no human eye, not even his, could
have detected anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out,

(09:00):
no stain of any kind, no blood spot whatever. I'd
been too wary for that A tub had caught all.
Ha ha. When I 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 down to open it with a

(09:21):
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 been deputed to search the premises.

(09:46):
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. I showed them his treasures, secure,

(10:07):
undisturbed in 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 had convinced them. I was

(10:28):
singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily,
they chatted of familiar things. But here long I felt
myself getting pale, and wished them gone. My head ached.
I fancied a ring in my ears, but still they
sat and chatted. The ringing became more distinct. It continued
and became more distinct. I talked more freely to get

(10:50):
rid of the feeling, but it continued and gained definiteness,
until at length I found that the noise was not
within my ears. Doubt. I now grew very pale, but
I talked more fluently and with a heightened voice. Yet
the sound increased, And what could I do? It was
a low, dull, quick sound, much such as sound as

(11:12):
the watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath,
and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly,
more vehemently, but the noise steadily increased. I rose and
argued about trifles in a high key, with violent gesticulations.
But the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone?

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I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides,
as if excited to fury by the observations of the men,
But the noise steadily increased. Oh God, what could I do?
I foamed, I raved, I swore, I swung the chair
upon which I'd been sitting, and grated it upon the boards.
But the noise arose over all, and continually increased, grew louder,

(11:57):
louder louder. And still the 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, anything was more

(12:17):
tolerable than this derision I could Beare those hypocritical smiles?
No longer I felt that I must scream or die.
And now again hark louder, louder, louder villains, I shrieked,
dissemble no more, I admit the deed, tear up the planks. Here,
here is the beating of this hideous heart, end of

(12:44):
the telltale heart.