The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe is a short story that delves into the mind of a mad man. The story only has five characters. There is an old man with blue eyes, the crazy killer and three police officers. The story is told by the anonymous murderer. This is his attempt to justify his behavior and prove to the reader that he is not crazy. As the story progresses, you realize that he is actually crazy. The characters in this story are complex, interesting, and elaborate. The first character introduced is the old man. Like any other character, the old man is not given a name. He has a blue eye that appears to have film over it. According to the story, he has quite a bit of gold in his house. The old man was also kind to the narrator, as he never did anything to him that would provoke murder: “He never wronged me. He had never insulted me. For his gold, I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, that was it! He had a vulture's eye – a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Every time it fell on me, my blood ran cold; and so, little by little, very gradually, I decided to take the life of the old man and thus get rid of my eye forever. (Poe 1) The next character introduced is the narrator. It is both complex and interesting. He thinks he's not crazy. While he goes out of his way to prove he's not crazy, he does the exact opposite. His relationship with the old man is unknown. However, he says he loves the old man. “I loved the old man.” (Poe 1). At the beginning of the story, the narrator tries to convince the reader that he is not crazy. This continues throughout the story. He says he suffers from hyperacuity. “And didn’t I tell you that what you fog up… in the middle of a paper… I do?” I frothed, I raved, I swore! I swung the chair I was sitting on and scraped it across the boards, but the noise was everywhere and continually increased. It got stronger…stronger…stronger! (Poe 5) The noise got louder and he finally screamed and told the cops where to find the body and what he had done to the old man. In the end, it was his own madness that betrayed him. The same beating heart that drove him to kill the man led him to confess to the murder. "'The bad guys!' » I shouted: "Dissemble no more! I confess the deed! -- tear up the boards! Here, here! -- It is the beating of his hideous heart! " (Poe 5) The characters of The Tell -Tale Heart are complex, interesting and elaborate. Although not much is known about them, they each have minor details that set them apart. Whether it's the old man's eye or the narrators' growing madness.