Poe's Short Stories
The Tell-Tale Heart
5. The two main symbols in the story are the eye and the heart. What do these symbols represent? Why are they important?
5. The two main symbols in the story are the eye and the heart. What do these symbols represent? Why are they important?
The "vulture eye" is a symbol of death, which is important because in the old man, the narrator sees his own pending death and mortality.
The heart-beat serves as a symbol of time, as is evidenced through its associated to the ticking of a watch. This malso supports the passage of time, and the narrator's obsession with his mortality.
The Tell-Tale Heart