What are some metaphors from The Tell-Tale Heart?

Answer 1

The three inspectors that visit is an allusion to the three witches in Macbeth.

Answer 2

There are multiple metaphors in A Tell Tale Heart. They are listed in order of the most significant

THE HEART

Well, it's listed in the title, so one can assume it must be pretty darn important. Our first key that it's a metaphor? THE THING KEEPS BEATING AFTER THE OLD MAN IS SUFFOCATED, DISMEMBERED AND THEN SHOVED UNDER SOME FLOOR BOARDS.

One way to see it, the heart represent's the narrators guilt for killing the old man. This theory works if you see the old man as simply an old man. If you view the old man as say, a reflection of the narrator himself (kinda like Voldemort and Harry Potter), then the heartbeat can represent the narrator's insanity.

THE EVIL EYE

Isn't it weird that the narrator didn't think the old man was evil, just the eye. That's because the eye is a metaphor. Again there can be debate over what exactly the metaphor is for, and there really is not right or wrong answer if the theory can be supported. The eye, as Poe himself includes in the story, it evil. So it's pretty safe to conclude that the eye is a metaphor for.... wait for it.... evil! If you want to dig deeper you could even go as far as to say it is the evilness which the narrator sees in himself. Eyes are the windows to the soul after all. That, too, is a metaphor.

THE WATCH

Okay, so the watch or time is mentioned like a bazillion times in the story. Whether it's a watch itself, a death watch in a wall, the seven days (I personally feel is a biblical reference), or a more abstract mention in one of the many times the narrator describes how very, very slowly he moved, time is important here. It represents the journey to death. The contemplation of death took over a week before he was finally able to do it. This can be taken as a metaphor itself. Maybe the week is years. Who knows?

THE LANTERN

It is mentioned less than the watch, however I think it's important to note that light is generally a counter to darkness. Darkness is usually associated with evil. SO if light fights dark and dark is evil then light is good? But then why does the narrator finally kill the old man once the light is fully shed upon the eye? Maybe because he has seen the full force of the eye. And as we've discussed earlier, the eye could stand for the narrator himself. SO when the narrator see's his true evil/insanity in the old man's eye he must destroy the eye

MIDNIGHT

When I first read the story I though the use of midnight was simply to enforce the tone of the story. Midnight can be thought of as the darkest hour, and hey, dark= evil. So of course the narrator is doing evil things at the evil hour. BUT once the old man was dead, and it was 4 o'clock but still dark as midnight, that was a pretty good indication that midnight wasn't just reflecting the evil of the actions but the evil of the narrator himself.

FINALLY

THE BELL

Okay, I might be grasping at strings here but I think the bell means something. The bell to me means the end. End of the old man, end of the narrators sanity, end of the narrators quest, I'm not positive. But Poe did also write a poem about bells- I believe it was titled such- and it was all about life and being young and growing old and dying. So I think the bell means something here.

Answer 3

I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.

One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture - a pale blue eye, with a film over it.

Answer 4

Hideous heart , Tell Tale

Answer 5

The Eye.