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The Tell-Tale Heart "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a suspenseful story based around a murder by a madman. Although murders are traditionally person versus person, the madman's murder is basically person versus himself. The narrator perceives the idea of killing an elderly man with an evil eye that haunts him. The madman believes his madness is a gift and has sharpened his senses, allowing him to perfectly commit this murder. The murderer, being mad, is paranoid of everything during his murder of the old man; in the end it is because of his "gifted" sense of hearing and his madness that he gives away the fact that he killed the old man. Conceived within his mind, the murder has little or none to do with the victim, the motive is unclear and the murder is unprovoked. The "disease" of madness within the person causes the conflict in this story, person versus himself. The narrator's belief in his madness causes him to believe that he could commit the perfect murder of