The content and conflict give meaning to the poem and affect how the audience interprets it. The eerie tone influences the poem and grants readers a better understanding of emotion and the mood by the authors word choice and content.

The anxiety derived from the feeling the narrator got when looking at the old man’s pale light blue filmed covered eye and ended with the uneasiness from the guilt subsequent to the tragic homicide of the old man. Poe creates suspense and tension leading up to the murder of the innocent old man by allowing us to experience the narrator’s own anxiety throughout the story.

All of these elements combined make for a short story is eerie, dark and unsettling. The poem describes the narrator and his obsession of the old man’s eye and the slaughtering of the man then his sanity changing and confessing the homicide of the innocent man.

I saw it with perfect distinctnessall dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones (Poe 1) sets the tone in this piece of writing. The tone affects the story and allows the readers to comprehend the mood and emotion behind it. The Symbolism introduces the audience to the concept of the narrator’s insanity and sense of guilt for murdering the old man. The beating heart exemplifies guilt and how powerful it can be against the human mind. He could not bear the sound of the beating heart any longer and confessed his wrong doings to the officers. The beating of the heart gradually grew louder and drove him insane. When speaking with them he heard the beating heart of the victim he slaughtered and dismembered. After he buried the body under the floor boards, the police officers came to the house. The other symbol that is presented in the story is the beating heart. The feeling of uneasiness the speaker gets from the old man’s eye causes him to murder the old man. The main character believes that the Evil Eye has power to curse him and it gives him anxiety. He enters the old man’s room with a lantern to shine light on the old man’s vulture like eye. In the beginning of the story, the narrator visits the old man every night at midnight to watch him sleep. The symbolism described offers an image to create an effect for the audience. The symbolism in the story works together with content to give meaning to this piece of literature.

George bush book decision points