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Why does the narrator want to kill the old man?
The narrator’s primary motivation appears to be that he simply finds the old man’s blind eye unsettling and is irrationally convinced that it’s evil. He lists nothing else that he dislikes about the old man, and in fact, does not kill the old man until he sets up a situation where he can only see the old man’s eye with the rest of the old man’s body out of view.
Why does the narrator shine a light on the old man’s eye every night?
The narrator illuminates the old man’s eye in an attempt to isolate the eye, which he believes is evil, from the old man. The darkness of the room creates a situation where the narrator can only see what his lantern illuminates, meaning that he cannot see the rest of the old man when he looks at the eye. The narrator only kills the old man when he catches him with his eye open, and even states he cannot kill the old man with his eye closed because “it was not the old man who vexed [him], but his Evil Eye.”
How does the narrator support his claim that he is not mad?
Throughout the story, the narrator focuses on how patiently and methodically he carries out the murder of the old man. He describes how kindly he treated the old man before the murder so as not to arouse suspicion. None of these descriptions, however, address the fact that the roots of his beliefs—that the old man’s eye is evil and that he has enhanced sensory perception—are irrational.
What is the sound that the narrator hears?
Considering the police do not appear to hear anything, we can safely assume that no external heartbeat sound actually exists. However, the narrator insists that he hears a thumping from beneath the floorboards which he describes as being like what “a watch makes when enveloped in cotton,” muffled and rhythmic. He later identifies this sound as the beating of the old man’s heart. If he is not hallucinating the sound, it’s possible the narrator may be hearing his own heart beating fast, stemming from his anxiety over being caught or awareness of his guilt.
Why don’t the police react when the narrator starts pacing and ranting?
The police likely do not react to the narrator’s ranting and pacing because he does not actually rant and pace. At this point in the story, the police have no real reason to believe any crime has taken place considering that they’ve been told that the old man is out of town. Thus, the narrator’s explanation that they are intentionally taunting him into confession seems unlikely. Much like with his auditory hallucinations, the narrator perceives himself as being more obviously guilty than he actually looks.
