death, and weakness off of his version of reality and for the narrator, it just a way to “escape death”. “He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.”
Poe,1992:95. The action
of the narrator’s desperation maneuver to “escape death” can be seen throughout the story. The narrator always mentions that the old man is a
good man. However, after visualization of death see n in the old man’s eye, the
narrator goes insane and stalks the old man for every night until the narrator murder the old man in the eighth night.
“Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door…” Poe,1992:93, “The old mans hour had
come With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --
once only.”Poe,1992:95. Then, the old man finally dies.
6. Heartbeat
Heartbeat, in its original meaning, is sign of life or the movements of the heart when the heart does its job, which is pumping blood from the blood vessels
throughout the entire body of a human being. However, in this story, the old man’s heart beat may have other significant meaning to the story. It represents
the narrator’s conscience and guilt. The example can be seen in this passage;
“But the beating grew louder, louder I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me --the
sound would be heard by a neighbor ”Poe,1992:94 the previous passage
suggests that the heartbeat disturbs the narrator’s action of the murder by
dragging him into anxiety. Actually, the heartbeat that the narrator listens to is his heartbeat which suggests that the narrator’s conscience trying to influences
the narrator with sense of guilt. “It was the beating of the old mans heart. It increased my fury, as the
beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.”Poe,1992:94. Here the quotation may suggest
the narrator’s will to commit the murder. However, it is actually the conscience of the narrator and it is deflected by the narrator anxiety.
Therefore, the murder is inevitable. “Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and
quicker, and l ouder and louder every instant… do you mark me well I have told
you that I am nervous: so I am… so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror.” Poe,1992:92, 98. The quotations above suggest that the
heartbeat truly disturb the narrator. Again, this is the sign of the narrator’s cons
cience. The narrator’s conscience tries to prevent the murder. However, since the narrator’s anxiety is much stronger, the will to murder grows stronger.
After the murder, the narrator conceals the body under the floor. “In an instant I
dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with
a muffled sound.” Poe,1992:94. After the concealment of the body, the narrator still hears the sound of
heartbeat. The narrator thinks it is the sound of the old man’s heartbeat.
