Final answer:
The beating heart in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' symbolizes the narrator's guilt, which torments them into confession despite their earlier displays of deception. So the correct answer is Option b.
Step-by-step explanation:
In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the beating heart that the narrator hears symbolizes guilt. Throughout the story, the narrator insists on their sanity while describing the meticulous way they planned and executed the old man's murder, showing a sense of deception. However, the relentless heartbeat grows louder and seems to manifest the crushing weight of the narrator's own guilt and conscience, which ultimately drives them to confess their crime to the police. The heart represents the inescapable nature of guilt and how it can psychologically torment an individual, regardless of their attempts to bury it or deny its existence.