The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe's story was very amusing to me. He wanted to portray to his audience that the main character was not 'mad' but skillful and 'wise'. I feel the character was trying to cope with the guilt he had for having such thoughts about killing the old man by seeing the good in what he was planning (his skilled attack, his clever breaking in, his sneaky movements inside the old man's room, etc.).  He waited and watched the old man sleep several nights until one night he is caught and the old man sits in bed in fear (you can hear his heart beating). Yet, he does not just kill him then. He stands and 'plays' with the old man opening the lantern and then finally he goes through with it. He then butchers the body and buries it in the floor & replaces the floor boards so fantastically that you would never know they were taken up. However, he IS proven to be mad because at the end of the story he thinks he can still hear the mans heart. How can that be if he dismembered the body? It is just not possible. He is obviously paranoid and guilty due to his actions. I think the title of this is kind of comical because it is the Tell-Tale Heart and he ends up tattle telling on himself because he can hear the heart beating. Over all, I enjoyed reading this and felt it was easier for me to comprehend in comparison to A Rose For Emily.