Breakdown

9 scenes · 2 plot threads · 3 characters

The Tell-Tale Heart

Horror, Thriller

Synopsis: An unnamed narrator tells a murderous tale in an attempt to prove his sanity. As he recounts the events, it becomes more and more obvious how mad he has become.

Theme: Madness, sanity, and the pressure of guilt.

Author: Edgar Allen Poe

Medium: Short story

Setup

1.The Narrator
2.The Vulture Eye

Try/Fail Cycle

3.A Nightly PursuitAttempt: The Narrator sneaks up on the vulture eye.Outcome: He gets a single beam of light on the eye but it is closed.
4.The Death WatchesAttempt: The Narrator creeps slowly and quietly into the room again.Outcome: He slipped when opening the lantern and scared the Old Man, and now must wait in the darkness without making a sound.
5.Eye Wide OpenAttempt: The Narrator waits until the Old Man's suspicion dies down, then opens the lantern again, shining light onto the eye.Outcome: He finds the eye in the darkness. It is open, but the Old Man's heartbeat grows louder, and increasingly incites rage in the Narrator.
6.Louder and Louder!Attempt: He continues to wait for the perfect moment to strike the vulture eye.Outcome: He hears a heartbeat (actually his own) growing louder, so loud that he worries someone might hear his victim. He panics and attacks the Old Man, who lets out a loud scream. He kills the Old Man.
7.Beneath the Planks
8.Foul PlayAttempt: The Narrator pretends like everything is normal. He believes he can relax around the police because nothing truly wrong had occurred.Outcome: No, the pounding of the Old Man's heart (actually the Narrator's) returns.

Try/Resolve

9.His Hideous HeartAttempt: Keep his cool amid the increasingly loud beat of his victim's heart.Outcome: No. He loses it and confesses to the murder.

Plot threads

Inquiry - Will he prove his sanity?
- The Narrator sets out to prove he is not insane by telling you his story.
- Attempt to prove that his cunning and intelligence are proof of his sanity.
- He's now admitting that he too is often driven mad by the death watches in the wall.
- As he looks upon the eye, he becomes more excited, and mistakes his own loudening heartbeat for the Old Man's.
- His belief that dismembering a body - if done cleverly and in secret - isn't crazy at all, further proves his madness.
- His histrionic reaction to the heartbeat going unnoticed by the police show how detached from reality he had become. He has in fact proven himself to be insane in the eyes of the listener.
Event - The Murder of an Old Man
- The Narrator, driven mad by the Old Man's vulture eye, decides to kill him. He is convinced that his grievance is with the eye alone and that he loves the Old Man.
- He murders the Old Man.
- The Narrator confesses to the murder.

Characters

Narrator50s · White · Male · Madman
Old Man80s · White · Male · Victim
PoliceWhite · Male · Detective

More breakdowns in the library Start a story from a template

Copy this story