Motives For Murder In W. Howard's The Tell-Tale Heart

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Then, there are the motives for the crime; In the “Tell-Tale Heart”, the old man is murdered by the caregiver who confesses his love for him yet blames his eye for being the cause of his torment. The Caregiver deliberately watches and waits on the old man for eight days at midnight plotting. In the story he states, “all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow of my bones”(693), this shows reasons the eye is the sole reminder of something within himself he wants to flee from, along with the intense pounding of his heart that gets him completely nervous and panicky; According to author Ronald W. Howard, he states, “He was sure it was the old man’s heart, and as the beat grew louder, he feared the sound might be heard by the neighbors”(⅖). Clearly this depicts the extremities of his paranoia assuming he’s going to get caught by the neighbors. Perhaps also the shock into seeing the old man wake up so instinctively mixed with very high levels of adrenaline causes him to completely lose it. The caregiver thinks that by…show more content…
She’s the mangy one, always yelling at him, and always complaining. His only comfort to coming home is his cat, and his wife knows that's his weakness. According to the story, the husband states, “This circumstances however, only endeared it to my wife, who, which had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures”(698), this shows his only comfort to coming home is his cat, and his wife knows that's his weakness that instantly sparks jealousy, a reason he kills the cat as well. He doesn’t feel the effects of his actions now, but later he

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