Symbolism in The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe In Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", the narrator claims that he is not "mad" but his behavior tells a different story story . He is truly determined to destroy another male human being, not out of jealousy or animosity but because "one of his eyes resembled that of a vulture: a pale blue eye, with a film over it" (1206). The narrator sees the man with this hideous eye as a threat to his well-being, but he is the one who poses a threat to his very being. He kills the man with pride only to admit his horrible crime due to his guilt-ridden heart. His heart is empty, except for the evil that exists within it and which ultimately destroys him. The narrator insists that it is his duty to kill the man with the evil eye because he can no longer bear to look at the horrible sight. He has become obsessed with the eye and when he conceives his ultimate plan he says "it haunted me day and night" (1206). Just as he describes the man's eye as similar to that of a vulture, the narrator suddenly discovers the resemblance of a real vulture. Now it is a predator, hunting its prey until it is finally caught. This continues for a week but is unable to achieve its goal. Only on the eighth night is the narrator finally able to capture his victim and the evil eye that is torturing his insides. The man is sleeping peacefully when the narrator enters. He thinks to himself, “I knew what the old man felt, and I pitied Him, though I chuckled in my heart” (1207). At this moment, the narrator feels no remorse for what he will do. He truly understands all evil and has no heart. The old man's heartbeat increases faster and faster. This foreshadows what happens later when the narrator tapers......to the center of the card......"'bad guys!" dissemble no more! I admit the act! - tear the boards! - here, here! - it is the beating of his heart horrible!"' (1209). It is not the beating of the dead man's heart that is horrible; it is the narrator whose heart is terrible and full of evil. The narrator becomes the man with the evil eye by becoming a torturous human being who lacks the ability to listen to his heart but instead "hears all things in heaven and earth. I have heard many things in hell" (1206). The things he hears in Hell may have contributed to all the hatred he feels towards the man with the evil eye. The narrator is able to hear what he thinks is the old man's heartbeat because he has been entranced by guilt, he feels remorse not from his own heart, but from the heart he killed. So the real evil eye still exists, without a heart, without a soul.