The Tell-Tale Heart

To me, The Tell-Tale Heart has two major themes- insanity and guilt. The narrator of the story is clearly not in his right mind, and awe know this for a few reasons. First, at the beginning of the story, he keeps reiterating that he's not crazy. Then he develops this obsession with the old man's eye, and makes it his sole purpose to kill the man, and therefore kill the eye. He is so obsessed with it that he kills the man in a very methodical, almost level-headed way. Last, of course, is the fact that when the police come to the house to investigate a minor disturbance, the murderer begins "hearing" the heartbeat of the old man's body, and rips up the floorboards to reveal his disembodied corpse.