The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe is a story that enters the mind of a mad man. The story features only five characters. There is an old man with blue eyes, the crazy killer and three policemen. The story is narrated by the nameless killer. It is his attempt to justify his behavior and show the reader that he is not crazy. As the story progresses, you realize that he is actually crazy. The characters in this story are complex, interesting, and elaborate. The first character to be introduced is the old man. Just like every other character, the old man is not given a name. He has a blue eye that appears to have a film over it. According to the story he has quite a bit of gold in his house. The old man was also kind to the narrator, as he never did anything to him that would cause murder: “He had never hurt me. He had never insulted me. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, this was it! He had the eye of a vulture: a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Every time it fell on me, my blood ran cold; and so, little by little, very gradually, I decided to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever. (Poe 1) The next character introduced is the narrator. It is both complex and interesting. He thinks he's not crazy. While he goes out of his way to prove that he is not crazy, he does exactly the opposite. Her relationship with the old man is unknown. However, he says he loves the old man. “I loved the old one.” (Poe 1). At the beginning of the story the narrator tries to convince the reader that he is not crazy. This continues throughout the story. He says he suffers from excessive acuity. “And didn't I tell you that what you spray... in the middle of the paper... I do? I foamed, I raved, I swore! I swung the chair I was sitting on and crushed it against the boards, but the noise spread everywhere and continually increased. He got stronger, stronger, stronger!” (Poe 5) The noise got louder and finally he screamed and told the policemen where to find the body and what he had done to the old man. In the end it was his own madness that betrayed him. The same heartbeat that drove him to kill the man led him to confess to the murder. “"Bad guys!" I cried: "Dissimulate no more! I admit it! - tear up the boards! Here, here! - It is the beating of his horrible heart!" (Poe 5) The characters in The Tell-Tale Heart are complex, interesting, and elaborate. While not much is known about them, they each have little details that set them apart. Be it the old man's eye or the narrator's growing madness.