Is guilt a way to redeem yourself? In the story “Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, a man kills his boss. He hides the body underneath the floor, and when the police come he becomes guilty and reveals he is the one that killed the old man. From this we can infer that theme is that guilt is a heavy burden.

At the beginning of the short story the narrator feels some kind of remorse for killing the old man. One part where it shows this is when the man spends a total of 7 days to kill the old man. This tells the reader that he is feeling remorseful; this is because he is thinking of killing the old man. Another example that the man feels some kind of remorse is leading to the murder he is really nice to the old man. This shows that he will be guilty if he isn’t nice to the old man before he murders him it will stay with him.

After and during the murder the man shows guilt. This is because during the 8th night he doesn’t move for a whole hour in the old man bedroom. This tells the reader that maybe he was reconsidering on killing the poor man. At the end of the book the man shows an extreme amount of remorse because he hears the old man’s heart. When he hears this sound he reveals to the police that he I murdered the old man and hid his body. This tells the reader that he is guilty because he hears the old man’s beating heart.

From this we can know that guilt is indeed a heavy burden. We can see this because the man feels some remorse to the old man trough out the whole story.